


The Book of Random Lore

by c0nsistentlyinc0nsistent



Series: The Ties that Bind [1]
Category: Hermitcraft
Genre: im never actively trying to post to this, no set schedule as per usual, this is for random lore and facts and such, this is only for Not From Around Here, trigger warnings will be added in chapters where it's needed
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-30
Updated: 2021-01-08
Packaged: 2021-03-05 21:47:21
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 31
Words: 22,893
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25552291
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/c0nsistentlyinc0nsistent/pseuds/c0nsistentlyinc0nsistent
Summary: Basically one big random info dump for The Ties that BindSimilar to what I did on Wattpad but any shippy things aren't totally canon unless you want to interpret it that wayFair warning, some of these may contain triggering material/content, which will be labelled appropriately in trigger warnings in both chapter summaries and notes
Relationships: Multiple that you can interrpet if you want
Series: The Ties that Bind [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1851628
Comments: 8
Kudos: 27





	1. Introduction

Alright I figured you guys would want this but I wanted to ask anyway and the overall vote was yes so here we go!

This will be a little side book like how Ships From Around Here is, but instead of oneshots and such, it's bits and pieces of lore, fun facts, character info, and general information on some things like powers or world mechanics 

These will also contain spoilers!! Well, some of them. Some stuff is hidden details, so if you want to figure it out yourself, skip it. I'll hint towards lore things in the main story a lot. 

I think that's all for an introduction, this will be very random and I'll try to include all the characters but I'll be including some more than others because some characters like Wels just have a fuck ton of lore packed into them (yeah I really like writing a lot of stuff for Wels' character sue me I also self project onto them ngl)

Went ahead and added all the current stuff from the Wattpad book onto this one :) 


	2. Grian Info

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: None, though killing is briefly mentioned without any descriptions of it

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't think a warning really applies here considering it just mentions deaths but yeah

Some general info/details about Grian!

Plus a bit about NPC Grian

So first off, Grian is the "main character" or "protagonist", cliche/generic I know, but remember, I started this story during the time when I basically only watched Grian and Mumbo.

Anyways, Grian is an angel who originally lived in the Aether, along with other angels who he considered his family. Those other angels are the others from Evo, btw. Aka a series I started then never finished and that contributes to why I basically only mention the others.

The Aether is a vast dimension up in the sky that some call Heaven, and it is actually not as easy to get to. You know how you make that glowstone frame and get disappointed when it doesn't ignite? Well, that's because there's more to it. 

Everyone thinks it's a hoax, but it's actually a quite complicated process that very few are aware of. Can you tell that's me not having an actual idea for what the process is so I just go with a vague answer that actually kinda works? Anyways, only a few people have the technology for it and know how to get there, and some of those people include Xisuma, Biffa, Joe, Wels, the Convex, and the scientists of the nHo.

So, this community of angels lived peacefully until a group of scientists made their way into the Aether and ransacked the place, capturing angels and a few other species there, also killing a few angels. 

Grian got away with his life but only after Taurtis found a safe place for them to hide. Taurtis told him to stay there so he could go get the others and bring them to safety, but he never came back.

After many years of being alone in the Aether, he met Xisuma, who came to study the place a bit. Xisuma talked to him, asked him a few things, and eventually talked about his community in the overworld called Hermitcraft, which he got Grian to come be a part of.

During his time in the Aether, Grian created/summoned a little friend known as NPC Grian, who was supposed to be a building buddy. He had an old ritual for it, but he never used it before. When he did summon NPC Grian, though, he was defective, so Grian kept him sealed away in a special little crystal that would hold him, along with the instructions on how to remove him from said crystal.

That's a simple explanation of his backstory.

Grian has an extreme fear of scientists or anyone resembling one, mainly on the basis of a white lab coat. Because of this, he fears Cub and especially Doc. The amount of fear he feels depends on the person's aura, Cub being non-threatening, so he doesn't feel quite as nervous around Cub.

Doc, on the other hand, has an incredibly dangerous and/or threatening aura, which makes Grian afraid of even being near the guy.

Also, yes, it's very cliche to make Doc the villain, but who cares that much? Not me. Do whatever you want with your characters. Doc just felt like a fitting villain to me, and yeah, you could go for unexpected villains, but I'm also not very creative.

As for NPC Grian, after he got his bugs ironed out, he became incredibly upbeat and silly, which was not at all what Grian thought would happen, but he had no problem with it. NPC also likes to refer to Grian as his older brother, so Grian is more than happy to call NPC his little brother.

Grian doesn't know how to fight very well, he had a lot of trouble with hostile mobs when he first arrived in the overworld because he never had to deal with those types of things in the Aether. He got the hang of defending himself at the very least.

NPC Grian, on the other hand, isn't programmed or trained to fight, and Grian wouldn't know how to fix that problem, so he simply gave NPC a shield to use for defense.

Since he's afraid of being captured by scientists, Grian initially tries his best to conceal that he's an angel. He tells Mumbo after a while, realizing he can trust him, and a few others figure it out on their own later on. Obviously, Xisuma knew from the beginning, but there are others from different dimensions that were able to identify Grian easily as an angel (Tango, Wels, a couple others.), while everyone else just thought his wings were a fancy elytra with feathers on them to make them pretty. It wasn't a completely odd thought considering other hermits customized their elytra as well. 

Grian has a few different powers tied tied to his species, an obvious one being flight with his wings. He can also dye his wings different colors if he so wishes, simply by taking glowstone dust and dyeing it whatever color then scattering it over his wings and boom, they'll be dyed that color.

He has a few defensive powers, such as being able to teleport small distances, creating a temporary shield with glowstone dust (it wears off after about 30-60 seconds and if it's hit too often or too hard too quickly then it'll break quicker than it wears off), and he can also temporarily stun someone with glowstone dust, though it only lasts a few seconds (and no he doesn't just throw it into their eyes but sometimes he does panic too much to properly use his magic and that happens).

Other powers include the ability to turn a bow spectral, which outlines a mob in white flames and hurts them a lot more, along with healing that is considered much more minor than the healing abilities of others (more on that later). He can also sense people's aura. 

NPC Grian also has a sort of glitch where he's able to heal people just a little bit, which he can exploit if he focuses enough.

And that's about it for basic details on Grian. 

His appearance is basically just how his normal mc persona looks, just with the addition of angel wings.


	3. Wels Info

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> TW: Not much, just mentions death occurring??

* * *

If you know me you'd know I absolutely love Wels, my absolute favorite hermit of all time.

In this story, Wels started out with a bit of a larger part in the story, but it wasn't entirely huge. That part in the story is actually growing quite a bit. I wanted to give Wels a bigger role in this story because not enough people do that, Wels isn't written majorly in enough stories, which is part of why I focus my content on him so much.

So, to start of, one very basic piece of info about Wels in this story is that Wels uses they/them pronouns. They dislike using labels, which is why they don't. Ask them what their labels are and they'll just shrug and tell you, "I don't like to use labels". The only label they actually use is asexual, but they also don't care if someone uses the label of nonbinary for them. They also don't mind certain terms that are typically more gender-aligned. Terms like dude, king/queen, even "sis" don't bother them. As long as they're not being blatantly misgendered, they don't mind. Other hermits still try to be careful albeit unecessary in most cases. Some may still have a habit of catching themselves when using terms that Wels is actually okay with. No one really knows what to avoid in terms of which gender it's more specific to, as no one knows the gender assigned to them at birth. And, to be fair, no one has asked because it isn't even an important detail. 

Wels is a "wood elf" from the Twilight Forest, where they once lived in a community built up of different kingdoms. They were a knight, protecting everyone in the community and keeping everyone safe. However, one day, their kingdoms were ransacked and destroyed, all of the residents murdered except for them. 

Joe was the one who brought them back after he went exploring in the forest and found them sitting in the middle of the ruins. They were a lot calmer than he expected them to be, but they were still emotionally drained from it all happening and they didn't sense any ill intent.

Moving away from backstory things, in case I haven't mentioned or shown it, I absolutely love Welsuma.

In this story, while it is open interpretation here on AO3, on Wattpad, there are set ships, and Welsuma is one of them. That being said, you don't have to interpret the following shippy things if you don't want to. It's only canon for Wattpad.

Basically, Wels is Xisuma's spouse—and if you don't know what that means, it's simple: they're married. 

Wels was brought to Hermitcraft in s4, and between the middle and end of the season, the two got married after Wels proposed in a very nonchalant and somewhat abormal way. Basically, they were out fighting mobs just for fun with Xisuma and they just kinda paused and went "Fuck it, marry me."

And needless to say Xisuma said yes, although he found it very amusing the way Wels chose to propose like that. 

Before that, though, they kind of just slowly fell in love with each other, or at least slowly REALIZED they were, and it began not too long after Wels first joined.

Wels likes living more far off on their own away from the others, and often Xisuma would be the only one willing to fly all the way out on a daily basis to go visit them. 

Wels and Xisuma are also the only married couple. 

Wels has different powers/abilities, mostly revolving around magic. They're able to heal with "high-class" healing, they have accelerated regeneration (meaning they can heal or recover from injuries quicker if they choose to), and their main form of magic is elementumkinesis, aka the manipulation of elements. They can manipulate earth, air, water, fire, and even void at will. 

Other abilities include "teleportation", though it is not actual teleportation, only moving at a pace so quick that it appears as if they teleported, as well as glowing their eyes different colors. They can also sense auras and act sort of like a lie detector; they know when someone is being truthful about their intentions.

They also have a few other powers, but you don't get to know in this chapter for lore purposes. :)

And that's about it for basic facts for Wels 

Their appearance is,, well

If you've seen my art then you'd know what I headcanon Wels as looking like, so basically go off that (if you haven't well,, look at any of my social medias.)

The only difference is their hair is all blonde, no brown roots, they're quite pale, (a bit paler than I usually draw Wels) and they have a tooth gap (because why not and tooth gaps are adorable??). They also have quite a few scars all over their body.

Their eyes are also a lot more grey than usual, so they're like a greyish-icy blue color. 

In this version of the story, Wels has a daughter named Xavi. Xavi is the same species as Wels, and has similar powers. She enjoys hanging around in the End a lot, and is actually just sleeping most of the time. Wels doesn't know exactly why she likes to sleep so much, but they decided it's not harmful. Xavi absolutely loves endermen, even carrying around an enderman plushie. She's around 12 years old. Xavi calls Wels by the name "baba", as a gender neutral term in place of momma or papa, but will also alternate between momma and papa, considering Wels doesn't mind. She likes to call some of the other hermits names as well. (I.e. Uncle Jevin, Uncle Biffa, Auntie Stress, vice versa. The only one she won't give a title like that to is Doc.)

Xavi understands a lot about the world and other people for how young she is, being mentally older. She's a mix of smart and mature while still being child-like (in a good way). She likes playing with Remi a lot and making flower crowns with Wels.

She's around 5'4, hair similar to Wels', only a more pale gold/yellow color. She has bright blue eyes that often glow purple instead, and she's almost as pale as Wels, also having freckles. She wears around one of Jevin's hoodies, along with sweatpants and tan ugs. 

Even though she can't fight all that well, Xavi does anything she can to help protect Wels. She always tries to be by their side whenever she can, trying to help in whatever ways she's able. Wels has to reassure her that she's doing just fine anytime she begins to worry too much.

There's not many other details about Xavi, other than she identifies as demigirl (though only uses she/her pronouns), as well as aromantic. 

* * *


	4. Magic/Powers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> TW: Mentions of lightning and limbs being cut off I suppose?

  


* * *

  


Magic is pretty basic for the most part in this story. Some characters just have certain magical abilities or powers.

  


Some of these abilities aren't necessarily entirely useful and some art effects of other factors of their species, such as Jevin.

  


There are only a few hermits who have legit magic, those being the ones from other dimensions, aka Wels, Grian, Xisuma, Evil Xisuma, and Tango.

  


Wels' magic consists of elementumkesis (manipulation of elements, aka water, earth, fire, air, even void at will), "high-class" healing and quick recovery, and reality warping (which can work as creating illusions or making the impossible seem possible, but it only creates the illusion that reality has been warped. It can seem real in all ways, but actually isn't. This isn't a power used often).

  


Grian's magic, as talked about previously, consists of creating temporary shields, turning bows spectral, "low-class" healing, teleportation, and dyeing his feathers.

  


Tango's magic consists of manipulation of fire, which includes creation of fire out of thin air. Not much, I know, but he has more ability-wise than magic-wise.

  


Xisuma and Evil Xisuma have magic consisting of manipulating the void element at will, though Evil Xisuma also has fire magic and can summon lightning at will.

  


Some abilities don't require any sort of magic or are just a natural ability tied to their species. Though, some abilities require an outside factor (for lack of a better word)

  


Xisuma and his brother have admin abilities, which include teleporting using coordinates, "middle-class" healing, altering the time of day at will, summoning mobs, etc. Biffa also has these abilities.

  


Wels has an ability that is called teleportation by elves, but in reality, it is just enhanced speed, meaning they can move so quickly that it seeks like they have teleported. Wels also has the ability to sense people's aura and act as a lie detector in a sense, as well as glow their eyes different colors. They are also very hard to kill and are almost immortal. They cannot die from sickness, but are not immune to it, as well as poison.

  


Tango has the ability to move at much quicker speeds than others, as well as fire immunity and the ability to communicate with mobs from the Nether, such as ghasts and zombie pigmen. Also, obviously flight without elytra and rockets, considering he has wings.

  


Grian also has the obvious ability of flight without elytra and rockets. He also is able to glow his eyes different colors and communicate with mobs that aren't from the overworld, aka Nether mobs and Endermen, as well as the Ender dragon and Wither.

  


Jevin has the ability to shape shift, aka take on the form of other creatures. He cannot become larger or smaller than he is, however, and he cannot take on any special powers of whatever he shapeshifts into. He can also control the little bits of floating slime around him if he wants to, though it doesn't really do anything. It's just a fun little extra ability he has. He can also fly without elytra or rockets since he's part angel, however, he cannot use any of the magic regular angels can.

  


Cleo has the ability to communicate with drowned and zombies, as well as the ability to not burn in the sun like regular zombies do. She can also remove her limbs without it killing her, though it would be a bit painful. She has reduced pain since she is partially dead.

  


The ability of those with healing powers of any sort are divided into 3 ranks or "classes" based on how effective they are.

  


Wels has the most effective healing magic, being a high-class healer. They can heal just about any injury, going as far as being able to reattach limbs. Their healing is the most effective and the most useful in a sense, meaning it _does_ take more energy. High-class healing offers an immediate recover, though it is still required that the injury rests to fully be restored without risk of repeated injury right away.

  


Those with admin powers, aka Biffa, Ex, and Xisuma, have the second-most effective healing abilities, ranking at a middle-class. Admin power healing can heal almost any injury, though it will still require a lot of rest for it to fully recover and it is not an immediate recovery, whereas high-class is. It takes more time to recover, but it does not take the user's energy. Since it does not require energy, it is not quite as effective in order to create balance between the two factors.

  


Grian has the lowest-ranking healing, known as low-class healing. He can only heal minor injuries, and more severe injuries will either not be healed at all or will only be patched up for the time being. If it is not a mild or minor injury, it will take quite a bit of resting in order to recover if low-class healing is used, much longer than middle-class. For more mild injuries, it will either be an immediate recovery or will only take a few hours to a day of resting to fully recover. This rank of healing does not use energy, but it requires some sort of substance in order to be used, such as Grian's glowstone dust (which he uses in just about all of his magic) or potions.

  


A few of the hermits have the ability to manipulate certain elements, some being stronger than others.

  


Wels has the strongest elemental abilities, being able to manipulate any element at will. These powers will be either amplified or dulled, however, on the basis of their emotions.

  


If they are feeling neutral or happy, their powers will remain normal. If they are sad or feeling down, their powers will be weak and barely effective. Trying to grow a flower would result in growing a quickly-wilting sprout. If they are angry, their powers will work very well, being amplified incredibly based on how angry they are. If they are only mildly angered, they could grow plants that are much stronger or create a force with air or water that is stronger or more violent. It would create a flame bigger than normal. If they were practically raging, their powers would be more violent. Incredibly powerful and hard-hitting waves with water, tornado-like forces with air, fires blazing almost out of control, incredibly strong plants that will often contain sharp thorns.

  


It is important that they keep their emotions under control when using their powers to ensure nothing goes wrong, but they have very good control over it.

  


Evil Xisuma's ability to summon lightning is one no other hermit has, and it has the same amount of effectiveness no matter what, the only exception being thunder storms, in which it is much more powerful.

  


Similar to how Wels' powers work, Ex's ability to create or summon flames would scale with his emotions. Feeling sad would result in weak flames, anger in blazing flames, and neutral or happy in regular flames.

  


Tango's flame magic works similarly to Ex and Wels'. Power scales with emotion.

  


Any ability to manipulate the void also scales with emotion, but much more dangerously. Being sad will not allow the manipulation of the void to occur. Being neutral or happy will allow it to work as normal. Being angry, however, can make it unstable, meaning it is much more dangerous than it would otherwise be and can bring harm to both those around the one manipulating the void and the person themselves. Manipulation of the void is rarely used because of this. It becomes easy to lose control over your powers.

  


Wels also has a few other magical abilites, however, they are a part of hidden lore. :) (this is revealed in a later chapter, dw)

  


  


And I think that's all I'm gonna dump into this chapter

  


* * *

  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I keep not wanting to post stuff to this so every now and again I'll add more to it (I mean that's how it will be anyway but I have more chapters I needed to add to this)


	5. Respawn Mechanics

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Trigger warnings: Mild mention of implied suicide, a lot of discussion about death (not in much detail)

* * *

Respawning is not 100% guaranteed, however, there is always a very small chance that you will not come back, resulting in a permadeath. 

The only beings capable of bringing back someone who has experienced a permadeath are those connected directly to the void (void beings, like Xisuma and Ex), or those who hold the power of necromancy and/or reanimation (Dark Elves). 

The way respawning works is not the most complex nor simple concept:

If you have consistently slept in the same bed in one spot or close enough to it, the universe recognizes that as your resting place. In order to respawn more quickly, your body must be placed on that bed. You can also place a person's body on a different bed, but it will take a bit longer. Respawning can take from a few hours to multiple days. Placing a body on their resting place will bring them back quickest. Placing it on any bed will take a bit longer, sometimes a little over or under a day. 

The longest is a result of leaving the body where it was, especially if there is no pre-determined resting place for that person. No one knows exactly why this is, but some have theorized that the universe gets confused or must look for the person in order to revive them. 

The only way to increase the risk of permadeath would be to avoid having a set resting place. The universe will have trouble locating you, and may just take your soul to the void, as it doesn't know where else to take it. This results in permadeath, in which the person's soul will take the form of their body in the void. Their real/physical body will remain where it is.

Void beings are able to dive into the void and communicate with it, bringing the person's soul back to their body. It's not a difficult process, but void beings are not common, and therefore cannot be a reliable source of revival for those who experienced a permadeath.

The other way to revive a permadead person is through reanimation or necromancy. A Dark Elf is capable of raising the dead through necromancy, or simply bring one back to life with reanimation. It's a small ritual in which the Dark Elf cuts an X in their palm, and an X on the person's chest over their heart. They then align the two X's and press down as they reach communication with the person's soul. Their soul will be forced to appear in front of the Dark Elf, who will proceed to order that it returns to the person's body. The ritual leaves a permanent and nasty scar, but it prevents further permadeath from occurring, as the person's soul becomes trapped inside their body. The scar acts like a barrier that prevents the soul from escaping. This also results in quicker respawning if they were to die again.

A Dark Elf may also have the option to become soul bound with someone who has died. However, they can only do this once, as both their souls will split in half and become one with each other. When soul bound, two people will share the pain of an otherwise fatal injury, be able to detect the other's feelings or emotions, and even communicate with them mentally through will. Most Dark Elves don't do this, but some may wish to become soul bound with a loved one, such as a family member or significant other. However, the person they wish to become soul bound with must always die first, as the ritual can only be done during reanimation.

As for the items being held or carried by someone who dies, all of their items will remain on them unless disturbed. For example, if one were to die from falling from a high place, their items would be easily disturbed and scatter everywhere on impact. They may not be damaged much, however, unless very fragile. 

If one were to get blown up by a creeper, their items may be more likely to be damaged.

Any injuries sustained that resulted in death would heal on the person's body upon respawning. However, some may leave a scar, depending on how they died. Falling from up high and simply dying from hitting the ground would not leave a scar, however, if the person were to, say, get cut by an object they scraped against while falling, it may leave a scar. Fatal wounds will always leave a permanent scar. 

The only way to guarantee respawning is with a totum of undying charm. They are quite rare, but never get used up one single time. As long as you have one on your person, you will be guaranteed to come back. Often, they are put on jewelry, such as necklaces, bracelets, or even earrings. Others may simply keep them in a safe pocket or as a keychain. The Convex have managed to scrounge up a good amount of these, enough for everyone on the server and then some. 

Additionally, if one were to attempt to experience a permadeath, the universe may recognize it. If the universe deems that it is not that person's time to go, it will refuse to grant them their permadeath. If the universe deems that it is their time to go, it will grant them a permadeath out of mercy. 

Some have attempted permadeath as a way to see if living is destiny for them, others have simply wanted to end their life. The universe may take ahold of the person in the void in order to tell them that their story isn't over yet. It will tell them a long poem, explaining to them how it's not their time to go yet, and that their adventure is not finished.

Not many have heard the story, but a few have. Those who have heard it had it embedded in their memory and in their soul, never to forget it. 

  
In fact, Wels has heard the story themself, and it brought tears to the eyes of those who heard them re-tell it. Even when told by a living person, the others could feel the power of the universe's words.

* * *


	6. Twilight Forest and Aether Groups

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Trigger warnings: None

* * *

Grian lived in a community of angels in the Aether while Wels lived in a community of elves in the Twilight Forest. These two were the only hermits who were from another realm that actually contained an entire community (aside from Jevin technically).

The other angels from the Aether were the others from Grian's Evo series (Taurtis, Netty, etc.)

All of the angels got along and were very close friends, family even.

The other elves from the Twilight Forest that Wels was friends with are the other Hyperminers (Lapis Lauri, C8sun, Surki, etc.) along with many other elves. Lapis is one of the few High Elves in the community, while the others are Wood Elves.

Wels wasn't friends with every elf, and the amount they were friends with was just under half of the community's population.

* * *


	7. Fun Fact: NPC Grian

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Trigger warnings: None

* * *

NPC Grian loves flowers, and he has a few flower clips that he always wears in his hair. He made them himself, and it always makes him happy to wear them. 

He gifted one to Ex, as well as let Wels keep one when they found it left behind in their house. Both of them wear their flower clip every day, just like NPC does.

* * *


	8. Fun Fact: Wels

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Trigger warnings: None I dont think

* * *

Wels doesn't like seeing their own chest, or for anyone else to see it (uncovered, that is.) For some reason, it gives them dysphoria—despite the fact that they have what would be typically considered a "male" type of chest. No one knows exactly why it makes them so uncomfortable, and they don't either. One idea is that it's linked to their asexuality in a way.

If they had to change shirts with someone else in the room, they'd turn their back to them and ask that the person turns around as well. They'd close their eyes when taking off their shirt and putting another on, and they do it when there's no one else with them as well.

If they were injured and had to remove their shirt in order to dress the wound, they'd try their damndest to do it without looking, solely because they can't stand seeing their own chest. If someone else was with them, they'd insist on taking care of the wound on their own, almost becoming paranoid if the other person tried to do it for them. 

To help avoid that happening, Wels used to wear their armor almost all the time, but it got tiring and they stopped wearing it as often. If they weren't doing anything important where it was likely they could get hurt in some way, they would just wear casual clothes. 

One thing a few have found interesting is that Wels quite likes wearing crop tops sometimes, so it seems they're mostly insecure about their chest specifically and not so much being shirtless in general or anything like that.

Some of the hermits have theorized that it had to do with scars they may have—some speculating that Wels may have gotten top surgery, considering they haven't clarified the gender assigned to them at birth—but it was decided that would be unlikely, as Wels has numerous other scars in other places that they don't seem insecure about. (And as for the top surgery theory, no one knows—they don't want to ask and violate Wels' privacy potentially, nor do they wanna assume, and Wels has never stated. They don't mind everyone's curiosity.)

* * *


	9. Fun Fact: Biffa

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Honestly this one is more of a joke

No one knows where Not a single person has any clue where the hell Biffa is at when he isn't present at the time. 


	10. Hidden Lore: Wels

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Trigger warnings: Uhhh mentions of being tormented I suppose? And necromancy?

* * *

Wels lies about their species—not that they aren't an elf, they are.

However, upon introducing themself, they claim to be a Wood Elf. No one else has extreme knowledge about elves, but Wels fit general characteristics of a Wood Elf.

This wasn't the case, though, as they are actually a Dark Elf. Well, a mix of Dark Elf and Wood Elf—their parents were one of each.

Dark Elves are considered the most vile and evil species of elf, widely discriminated against in the Twilight Forest, especially by High Elves. They are meant to be inherently evil, but it is not always the case.

Wels is not necessarily "evil". They are _very_ capable of being cruel, but most of their harsh attitude is a result of the poor treatment they faced in the Twilight Forest. Rather than _trying_ to be mean, they are simply stern and/or harsh when needed. They are otherwise snarky, sometimes being polite. More often than not, however, they are almost emotionless, being constantly drained and fatigued.

As part Wood Elf, Wels possesses heightened elementumkinesis, along with the Dark Elf abilities of necromancy, voodoo, reanimation, soul bounding, and umbrakenisis. The standard powers/abilities that all elves possess otherwise are the same as any typical elf.

Necromancy allows one to raise and control/manipulate the dead, voodoo allows one to control people using dolls, reanimation allows one to revive the dead/bring someone back to life, soul bounding allows one to bound their soul to another's (only once), and umbrakenisis allows one to manipulate darkness without the use of magic.

Because of this, Wels is one of the only few people capable of bringing back those who experienced permadeath by performing a reanimation ritual. If they wanted to, they could also use necromancy to gain control over the dead, however, they have no desire to do so, nor do they wish to make use of voodoo.

In fact, due to their past in the Twilight Forest, they have sworn off using Dark Elf abilities, seeing as they were tormented relentlessly for being a Dark Elf. Even after finding a better place to live in the realm, they refused to make use of their Dark Elf abilities.

* * *


	11. Hidden Detail: Wels

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Trigger warnings: Mentions of death/trauma from loss of a family member

* * *

Wels never mentioned to anyone that they have an older brother. 

Well, had an older brother. They were certain he was dead. There was still the possibility that they were wrong, however.

His name was Hels. He was tough and prideful, yet he was also kind-spirited. A strong sort of optimism. Over the years, his attitude soured. He became more stern, more rude. More of a violent type of protectiveness, especially over Wels. He was still a bit soft on the inside, but that part of him only peeked through a bit when he was around Wels.

Hels was a Dark Elf just like Wels, and he too refused to be evil like the stereotypes said. He was constantly pushed over his edge in attempts to make him snap.

Well, let's just say that one day it actually worked. The kid snapped and was unable to control his anger—and it's not pretty when that "evil" part of a Dark Elf gets too irritated. 

His umbrakenisis lashed out, as it does when a Dark Elf gets much too angry (if they weren't embracing the evil already, being angry enough would cause them to lose control over it), and he ended up killing multiple elves by accident. 

Once he snapped out of it, he realized he was being attacked as well. He ended up fleeing to god knows where. 

Wels made the assumption that wherever he was, he was dead. They made a makeshift grave for him at every home they lived in after that, including in Hermitcraft. The one they have now uses a real tombstone.

Every year on Hels' birthday, they would mourn his death in secret. It pained them immensely when they hugged his tombstone, or makeshift one, and said "happy birthday, my dear brother."

Hels was always protective over Wels. He loved his younger sibling with his entire being, seeing as Wels was all he had. They were all that each other had.

Hels was very quick to be accepting of Wels when they started identifying as nonbinary. It was common for elves to be nonbinary, even at a young age, Wels being around 7 years old when they started really realizing that they felt more like a nonbinary. Hels helped them figure it out a bit.

When TFC took them in, Hels would always help comfort Wels as they slept, holding them in his arms. Every night, he held Wels as close as he could, knowing the possibility that some day, he may be unable to hold his sibling ever again. 

Wels cried heavily every night after Hels' disappearance. They wanted more than anything to be held in their brother's arms again. 

Hels was around 17 years old when he disappeared, while Wels was around the age of 12. 

In Hermitcraft, Wels began mourning multiple times a month. One day, they got so angry that they punched their portal to the Twilight Forest and broke it with umbrakenisis. 

They were forever scarred by the loss of their brother, Hels being one of the only things they had. It only helped to fuel their emotional exhaustion, as well as how irritable they are. 

* * *


	12. Hidden Detail: Wels and Xisuma

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Trigger warning: Mentions of self harm and suicide/attempted suicide.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> MASSIVE trigger warning. This is a very dark chapter.

**(One last time, massive TW for mentions of suicide/attempted suicide and self harm.)**

* * *

It was at one point avoided in conversation while Grian was speaking to Wels that Xisuma has saved Wels from death numerous times—from attempted suicide.

Wels was never the happiest person or the most stable when it came to mental health—they suffered with very bad depression and anxiety, mostly due to their trauma. Because of this, they often didn't want to live anymore.

Xisuma, numerous times, has stopped Wels from dying either right before or during an attempt. They've tried multiple methods—Xisuma has found them bleeding out on the floor, standing on the edge of cliffs or tall structures, even hanging.

Wels wanted more than anything to experience permadeath. But every time, they either failed to die in the first place, respawned, or were stopped by Xisuma.

At one point, they experienced a depressive episode that was so bad that they tried _constantly_ for a permadeath. They would kill themself or try to, and either way, they'd wait a day or two before trying again. Sometimes, if they were sick of how quick they respawned, they would try multiple times a day. This lasted for weeks on end.

The first time Xisuma found Wels dying from an attempt, they had slashed up their arms with a sword and were bleeding out on the floor. He managed to bandage them up, but they soon regained consciousness. The moment they processed what was happening, they tore the bandages off and tried to make a run for their sword, only to be stopped by Xisuma. They pushed him off and screamed, "just let me die", curling up on the floor with their hands over their head, even digging their nails into one of their wounds. This made Xisuma realize just how bad their depression had gotten at this point.

Xisuma tried his damndest to watch over Wels, making sure they were at least functioning and safe. At one point, Wels gave up and apologized profusely, considering they put Xisuma through a lot of anxiety and worry with what they were doing.

Another reason they gave up on permadeath was because they almost succeeded, but the universe deemed it wasn't their time to go, despite everything that's happened to them. Because of that, they would be unable to die permanently.

Every now and again, Wels would still feel awful about it. They were so focused on trying to die and stay dead that they weren't using their brain and realizing how much it hurt Xisuma. Xisuma insisted that it was alright—and to him, it was. He wasn't permanently affected by it in any way.

Even still, Wels felt bad about it, but they eventually had to accept that they shouldn't, considering Xisuma wasn't forever harmed by it, and they had felt bad and apologized enough during the time that Xisuma _was_ even the slightest bit affected.

It's something Wels would be reluctant to discuss with anyone, as well as Xisuma. No one else knew about all of it—Wels was always so isolated and quiet that they could have easily gotten away with it. No one would have been alerted to their death, except for Xisuma, seeing as he was connected to the world in a way as the primary admin. Even without that, he could feel that something was wrong, and would always go and check up on Wels when he felt that way.

Any time Wels succeeded in dying, Xisuma would wait for them to respawn, and would then stay with them for a few days to make sure they were okay.

All of this resulted in Wels recieving numerous scars left over from attempts. They've had scars from slashing their neck, stabbing themself, etc. The fact that they were always messy when harming with their own sword meant that the scars coming from self harm or suicide blended in with scars from battle. Even Xisuma couldn't distinguish between them easily.

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fun fact that isnt actually fun, I realized recently just how much I self project onto Wels in this story. Wels' character tells you a lot of shit about myself hdjgjsjfjsjgns


	13. Compilation of Random/Stupid/Fun Facts and Such

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> More of a fun little chapter I messed around with :)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Potential trigger warnings: Mild/brief mentions of death happening, uuhhh fire mentions???, uh,, mentions of swallowing broken glass out of spite—idfk

* * *

This is just a compilation of random stupid/silly facts/information relating to multiple characters in the story.

• Grian likes to dye his wings certain colors for holidays (example: one red and one green for Christmas, pink for Valentine's Day, a mix of orange, purple, and black for Halloween, etc.)

  
• Mumbo's wardrobe consists of one single suit and tie that he wears all the time, along with a grey hoodie and sweatpants that he wears to sleep and that's it

  
• One time Team ZIT pulled a prank on Wels by replacing some of the stone used in the walls of their home with infested stone. Wels was killing silverfish for days afterwards, and in retaliation, they filled the other three's chests with the dead silverfish and left each of them a note that simply read "fuck you". They would have done more but they were tired.

  
• If Stress notices that a hermit has been feeling down lately, she leaves them a bouquet of flowers, along with their favorite baked goods or other treats and a sweet little note. It has a 100% success rate.

• Also, Stress knows everyone's favorite type of flower and favorite baked goods:  
-Grian: poppies and cookies  
-Xisuma: blue orchids and pretty much any flavor of pie  
-Ex: wither roses and blueberry muffins  
-Iskall: alliums and keylime pie  
-Mumbo: roses and any sort of chocolate bark or customized bar (like with caramel or popcorn added to it, you know)  
-Cleo: white tulips and sour candies   
-False: dandelions and lemon bars  
-Tango: red tulips and salt & pepper caramels  
-Impulse: dandelions and cookies  
-Cub: white tulips and cake   
-Scar: roses and cake  
-Doc: oxeye daisies and butter beer candies  
-Wels: roses and anything coffee flavored (like candies, cookies, cake, even macarons)  
-Jevin: blue orchids and cupcakes  
-Joe: sunflowers and brownies

  
• Wels and Cleo like to sing sea shanties together

  
• Scar has died so many times within the first day of season 6 that Cub gave him a totem of undying charm right off the bat so he wouldn't end up getting a permadeath  
• Tango has accidentally set fire to things a few times and it's taught the others a couple things: 1) don't build your house out of wood if you're near Tango 2) keep fire spread off.

• Jellie is the only cat Wels tolerates. Otherwise, they hate cats, though they have a few cat-like qualities as part of being an elf.

  
• One time Zedaph and Impulse were trying to see if Doc would turn into a charged creeper if he got struck by lightning, so they took a trident with channeling on it out in the rain and struck Doc with it. The answer was no, no he does not, and you should never try it because once he respawn Doc will kick your ass into next week.

  
• Ex is really good at knitting and has actually made sweaters for all of the hermits once. They all still wear them around Christmas.

  
• Some of the hermits have an oddly distinct/strong hair scent and no one entirely knows why—Xisuma's smells like rain, Stress' smells like roses, Tango's smells like smoke, Wels' smells like mint, and Joe's smells like coconut.

  
• Zedaph learned the hard way that Wels can be quite playfully cruel. A few of the hermits were hanging out and started telling ghost stories by a campfire, Wels telling some sort of story about a monstrous being that sneaked into people's homes at night and stalked them. Zed kept saying how it didn't sound very real and insisted that he wasn't scared (he was, let's be honest), so Wels devised a prank in which they disguised themself as a shadowy demonic creature and 'haunted' Zedaph at night. He constantly felt like something was watching him, and one night woke up to see that creature standing in the corner of his room, staring at him with red eyes. Later he had to explain that the reason he screamed at the top of his lungs in fear was because Wels turned into a demon to haunt him, all while Wels was laughing hysterically.

  
• False has kicked pretty much every hermit's ass on the server at least once, including Doc. Well, there's a few she hasn't—Cleo, Stress, and Wels, who knows not to piss her off because if they did they know she can and will twist them into a pretzel.

  
• Iskall has the most contagious laugh out of all the hermits

  
• There was a time when Wels made efforts not to swear but eventually they just got so tired that they didn't care anymore and aren't afraid to swear like a sailor now and some hermits were surprised by it still

  
• There are a few hermits who are downright terrifying when they get angry. From scariest to least scariest, the list goes: Wels, Xisuma, Doc, Evil Xisuma, False, Stress, Cleo, Jevin, Cub, Scar, Tango, Iskall, Grian, Impulse, Joe, Zedaph

  
• No one has actually experienced the height of Wels' anger—they haven't even come close to it. The fact that they're already quite scary when they're even a little bit angry is reason enough not to utterly and completely piss them off. They're second to Doc when it comes to how violent they can potentially be when at the height of their anger, if not they're actually the most dangerous.

  
• Ex likes to hang around in the End a lot, sometimes taking another hermit with him, especially if they seem stressed. It's very peaceful in the End, which is why he likes it there so much. 

  
• If you looked on Wels' desk in their room, you'd find a small planner among other books and such, and in that planner would be a "daily agenda". On that agenda is the following:  
-Drink coffee, no less than 3 cups  
-See if Xavi is still asleep, if yes make sure she's sleeping peacefully, if no figure it out from there  
-Water plants  
-Play with Remi  
-Go back to sleep or lay on the floor silently wallowing and being miserable until someone needs you for something, then resume

  
• Xisuma often likes to play guitar in his free time, sometimes with his brother as well

  
• Xisuma likes playing the electric guitar the most, and while Ex also knows how to and enjoys playing it, he likes playing acoustic the most

  
• Wels gives some of the other hermits forehead kisses or even small kisses on the cheek every now and again. But yknow, in a no homo way, like kissing the homies goodnight, yknow? Anyways they all enjoy it.

  
• Grian will sit around trying to see how many fish he can spot in the ocean if he has nothing else to do

  
• Sometimes Joe writes poems that make absolutely zero sense whatsoever 

  
• Ex tends to hang out with Wels in the End quite often, at least once or twice a week. They might just sit around and enjoy how peaceful it is, they might sing together, sometimes Ex plays the acoustic guitar while Wels sings, or they'll even talk about their brothers. Ex likes hearing Wels talk about their brother—he finds it really interesting and admires how much their brother cared for them. 

  
• When Zedaph wants to do something really stupid and reckless, he has two options: Go to Tango and Impulse for it, or go to Wels for it. Tango and Impulse always like goofing around with Zedaph, meanwhile Wels has zero concern for how stupid and dangerous it could be as long as it'd only be a threat to their own safety, plus they can actually be quite upbeat and energetic when messing around with Zedaph.

  
• Sometimes when Mumbo is really tired he'll accidentally pour redstone into a bowl of milk instead of cereal. This has happened far too many times.

  
• One very random benefit of Wels always living farther away from the others is that it's incredibly rare for anyone to hear it when they'll sometimes just lay on the floor and scream for no apparent reason. There have been a few times when others flew by and heard it, but when they went to check on Wels they were just laying in the middle of the floor staring at the ceiling and responded with "Yeah I'm good." and that was it. They've done it every season and still do.

  
• If you look in various places around Mumbo's little bunker, you'll find discarded redstone ideas, some being incredibly ridiculous, which is why they were discarded.

  
• All of the hermits are such close friends that regardless of their relationship status or romantic orientation they're comfortable with being playfully romantic with each other in a somewhat platonic way. It might sound confusing but don't worry, Grian didn't understand it at first either. 

  
• Sometimes Stress likes to organize prom-like events and she even includes voting for prom king and queen. Everyone has wanted to vote for Wels a lot but they didn't know which one to vote them as so Stress made a third option for "nonbinary royalty". Wels is the only one who ever wins that and they constantly make fun of it.

  
• Speaking of prom, False and Cleo often wear tuxedos instead of dresses. Meanwhile, Wels exclusively wears a somewhat extravagant tuxedo dress and now you know why everyone wants to vote for them. If you were to ask them why they chose to wear a dress they'd simply tell you "Because I want to, can't a knight feel pretty?"

  
• Doc is the only hermit Wels absolutely cannot get along with and Wels is the only hermit Doc absolutely cannot get along with, partially because they both refuse to and partially because they're too busy hating each others guts. 

  
• In fact, one time Wels said "I'd rather swallow a fucking stack of broken glass than be all buddy-buddy with Doc" and they actually did attempt to swallow a whole stack of broken glass just to prove a point and spite Doc after Doc said "Do it then". They died after the first three pieces and now any time Wels starts to say "I'd rather do [insert something really stupid/dangerous] than be friendly with Doc" the others immediately tell them not to continue their sentence.

  
• Ex tried that "Get along sweater" thing with Doc and Wels just for the hell of it. He wanted to see how long it took for one to kill the other. It didn't take very long for Ex to come back to Wels sitting angrily with their arms crossed as Doc lay dead on the floor. Everyone was surprised the sweater stayed intact.

* * *


	14. Fun Fact: G Team and Team STAR

* * *

Everyone in the G Team shares a bunk bed and it's organized as the following;

Grian (top bunk) + Jevin (bottom bunk)

NPC Grian (top bunk) + Mumbo (bottom bunk)

Iskall (top bunk) + Cleo & Stress (bottom bunk, they insisted on sharing.)

Tango (top bunk) + Joe (bottom bunk) 

Team STAR, on the other hand, has separate rooms for each team member. There are two halls for the bedrooms.

In hall 1 on the left side:

Xisuma (far left)  
Ex (far right)  
Wels (front left)  
False (front right)

In hall 2 on the right side:

Doc (far left)   
Impulse (far right)  
Ren (front left)

The other is a spare

* * *


	15. Fun Fact: Wels + Doc (+others)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Potential TW: mentions of,, uh,, choking on shards of glass,, and bleeding to death,, uM,, yeah—

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is officially the stupidest canon thing in this story.

  


* * *

  


This was once a real conversation that happened in chat during Season 5:

  


_< Welsknight> Hey Doc, in case no one has told you this morning, I hope you choke on shards of glass._

_< Docm77> Make me, cuck._

_< ZombieCleo> The girls are fightiiiinnggg_

_[Docm77 bled to death while choking on glass.]_

_< Xisumavoid> Oh for _ _the_ _love of all things holy._

_< TangoTek> LOL_

_< Falsesymmetry> gg Wels_

_< ZombieCleo> Damn they really did it_

_< Welsknight> I'm a knight of my word._

_< Docm77> Fuck you._

_< Welsknight> No. <3_

_  
_

* * *

_  
_


	16. Xisuma Info

* * *

Despite most people's first impression of him as the widely renown leader of Hermitcraft, once they've settled in they realize that he's not too different from everyone else.

Xisuma is a strong and firm leader as the primary admin of the world, but at the end of the day, he's just another hermit. He's laid back and always likes to just hang out with everyone and be friendly. 

Xisuma's general attitude is rather cheerful in a chill way. He can often be a bit silly, and he's a very caring person. He'll sometimes become more firm and strict if needed, but it rarely has to become a problem. He helps keep everyone in line, more importantly trying to make sure everyone is having fun. 

His species is one of the more rare out there, aka a void being. He was created in and by the void, which is why he has natural admin abilities. Those abilities allow him to control the worlds he creates, which in this case would be hermitcraft.

Every so often after the group has exhausted all of their ideas and such in the world, Xisuma creates a brand new one for them all to experiment with next, dividing it all up into "seasons". To get from one season to another, Xisuma opens up a portal to the new world. Once it's closed after everyone has went through, only the creator of the world can create a portal to go back. However, there are very rare cases in which something happens within the world that allows them to be sent back to a previous season, yet no one knows exactly how or why this occurs. It doesn't happen often, but it also has yet to happen.

Xisuma's main abilities consist of admin powers and the ability to manipulate the void element. Having admin powers allows him to do the following by will:  
• Change the weather  
• Summon mobs   
• Summon items  
• Teleport using coordinates  
• Keep track of all deaths that have occurred in the world, having a display of the time in which they occurred and all of the circumstances of the death  
• Track or find out the location of another hermit  
• Ban anyone from the world (which sends them to the void)  
• Heal others with middle-class healing (more info on how healing classes work is in the chapter about powers/abilities)  
• Grant admin powers to others

Due to how easily admin powers could be abused, Xisuma has only granted them to Biffa. Other than that, Ex is the only other person who has these powers as well. Xisuma never uses admin powers to his advantage or abuses them, only using them when necessary, though this mostly only applies to the abilities to summon mobs or items. It's also rare that he ever has to mess with the weather.

Xisuma is also one of very few people with knowledge about dimensions other than the Nether and End, those dimensions being the Aether and Twilight Forest. This knowledge includes things as simple as knowing how to properly make a portal. 

* * *


	17. Evil Xisuma/"Xizara" Info

* * *

Xizara, more commonly known as Ex or Evil Xisuma, is Xisuma's brother.

Most hermits rarely, if ever, call him by his actual name, but they avoid calling him Evil Xisuma over the name Ex. Some have given him the nickname "Zar", but it's also not used as much. His communicator has his name down as Evil Xisuma since it's sort of become an alias for him and he doesn't really mind it too much.

Ex is a half-demon, though it was simple possession by a demon that left behind a few demon-like traits. Besides that, he's a void being just like his brother.

Ex used to be much more stern and rude, insisting on causing chaos and destruction, but that was because there was a demon possessing him and making him "evil". That demon was from the Nether, as all demons are, and it possessed him when one time he and Xisuma were exploring and were attacked by it. In order to protect Xisuma, he made a deal to be the demon's vessel if it wouldn't hurt his brother. It was only seasons later that the Convex was able to help him be rid of it.

Generally, he's still a bit snarky, but he's still very kind in a bit of a stern way. He's incredibly protective over his brother, and doesn't necessarily get attached to people. The few he has gotten attached to are Zedaph/"Worm Man", Wels, Cub, Scar, and later NPC Grian.

Ex has the same powers as Xisuma, but with the addition of the ability to manipulate/summon fire and lightning. He also has increased speed and the ability to glow his eyes different colors.

Ex wears armor a lot less frequently than Xisuma does, and hell—he barely does at all. 90% of the time, Ex simply wears a red hoodie with the sleeves cut off near the shoulders. Underneath he wears a black turtleneck and fingerless black gloves. He wears tattered black jeans, sometimes leggings, and combat boots. Wels likes to tease his look and call him edgy. 

But let's be honest—he kind of is.

Xizara has always been his real name, seeing as he actually quite liked it and it was gender neutral enough. He's one of the only two hermits who is trans, the other being Wels, who can be labeled as nonbinary or agender. Meanwhile, Ex is transmasc. 

* * *


	18. Fun Fact: Wels + Ex

* * *

The first time they all saw it in chat, everyone was concerned when they saw that Ex apparently pushed Wels into the void.

However, when they went to check it out, the two were there by the edge of the end island laughing about it afterwards.

Ex often likes to take Wels to the End when he goes there to just chill out, especially when they're having a rougher day than usual. He doesn't always take them, but he often does, and sometimes they go just to hang out and talk even if neither of them are having a bad day.

It eventually became a thing for them to playfully push each other into the void because neither of them were very concerned about it. Wels has already found that they're unable to get a permadeath (as explained in a previous chapter) and void beings are immune to permadeaths.

So after a while, everyone stopped being concerned when they saw a death message in the chat that read _[Welsknight was pushed_ _into_ _the void by Evil Xisuma.]_ or _[Evil Xisuma was pushed into the void by Welsknight.]_  
It's all just fun and games for them. Besides, they both learned how to hold their breath in such a way that the suffocation of the void wasn't painful.

* * *


	19. Fun Fact: Grian + Ex

* * *

This may be something you notice or have noticed, but Ex isn't very interested in being Grian's enemy in the Civil War.

In fact, it's quite the opposite. Despite the fact that they're on opposing sides, Ex tries during battles to give Grian little bits of help. He'll occupy Grian by being his opponent, but instead of trying to beat him, Ex will try and lead on Grian to make an attack, escape, counter attacks, etc. Ex acts more like a bit of a helpful guide than an opponent for Grian.

Part of it has to do with the fact that Grian is new and Ex has no desire to be his enemy in general, part of it may be related to the fact that Grian is good friends with Wels. Another thing could be the fact that Ex is quite fond of NPC Grian, so it would make sense for him to be friendly towards Grian.

Ex just feels a bit inclined to try and help Grian at least a little.

* * *


	20. Hermit Laughs

* * *

This is just a lil fun thing

Most contagious laughs:

  
Iskall, Grian, Wels (mostly hysterical laughter), Stress, Cleo

Most adorable laughs:

  
Scar, Xisuma, Wels when they're just giggling, Zedaph

Loudest laughs:

  
Iskall, Grian, Biffa, Cleo, Stress, Tango

Quietest laughs:

False, Cub, Xisuma

Most frequent laughter:

  
Cleo, Iskall, Wels, Impulse, Tango

Less frequent laughter:

  
False, Joe, Xisuma

Bonus—stone-faced bastard man:

  
Doc  
  


* * *


	21. Hidden Detail/Lore: Wels

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Potential TW: Transphobia

* * *

This is actually implied/minorly revealed in one chapter of Pasts From Around Here so it's not actually hidden in the actual story, however—

Before identifying as nonbinary, Wels was labelled female, so basically they're AFAB

Since they're a Dark Elf, that was something other elves used against them, aka they were transphobic towards them solely because of their species being Dark Elf. It made them pretty much numb to any sort of transphobia or misgendering directed at them, intentional or not

In the main story sometimes Doc refers to Wels as a 'he' instead of a 'they' (not purposefully, he just gets irritated and stops caring for a moment), and Wels has only ever been mistaken as male, considering their voice sounds a bit more 'male-like'. Sort of helps the balance for them to be more androgynous, but still misgendering if they were referred to as a male.

Also, yes, the theory about top surgery scars being why Wels hates seeing their own chest and/or would rather be turned into a pin cushion by a million arrows than let someone else see their chest. The scars are incredibly faint but they still dislike it, and they're still just generally uncomfortable with seeing their chest and would be even if they didn't have those scars.

Often they'll wear a binder albeit unnecessary but it doesn't do them any harm considering it's not tight on them at all and is actually made of stretchy material for the sole sake of comfort since they didn't really need it for anything other than covering their chest and that's it.

But they still let the others have their theory without confirming it because why not

Now that being said, this has only really been an issue on Wattpad but:

PLEASE MAKE SURE YOU USE THE PROPER PRONOUNS FOR WELS IN THIS STORY!!

Because not only does it tie heavily into their backstory, but also it kinda irks me when people don't use the right pronouns for TTB Wels when their pronouns are always shown to be they/them. It's understandable that people would use he/him accidentally because y'know actual Wels, cis male, he/him, but that's not the case for this story. So pleeaasseee make sure if you refer to TTB Wels in a comment that you use they/them not he/him, and I will correct it if you don't

* * *


	22. Songs I'd Associate with Characters in the Story

* * *

This is more of for funsies

Wels:

  
-Believer by Imagine Dragons

  
-Burned Out by dodie

  
-Wolf in Sheep's Clothing by Set It Off

  
-You're Gonna Go Far, Kid by The Offspring

  
-Empty Chairs at Empty Tables from Les Misérables 

  
-Be Nice To Me by The Front Bottoms

  
-Angel with a Shotgun by The Cab

  
-Bad Liar by Imagine Dragons

  
-Lost It All by Black Veil Brides

  
-Natural by Imagine Dragons

  
-100 Bad Days by AJR

  
-Amsterdam by Imagine Dragons

  
-Battle Scars by Paradise Fears

  
-Warrior by Paradise Fears

  
-Blood // Water by grandson

  
-Burned by Grace VanderWaal

  
-Demons by Imagine Dragons

  
-Die For You by STARSET

  
-My Demons by STARSET

-Trials by STARSET for the third time in a row

Probably significantly more songs associated with Wels because there's so much to their character also literally all the Imagine Dragons songs I listen to are Wels songs minus Machine

Grian:

  
-Dreamin' by The Score

  
-New Years Day by Black Veil Brides

  
-On The Brightside by Never Shout Never

  
-Runaway by Aurora (and honestly this could be a Wels song too)

  
-SING by My Chemical Romance

  
-Something Wild by Lindsey Stirling 

-Welcome to the Black Parade by My Chemical Romance

  
-Who We Are by Imagine Dragons (again, could also be a Wels song)

  
-Don't Wait by Joey Graceffa

-Crossfire by Stephen, which I originally put down for Wels but I'm moving it to Grian 

-Weak by AJR

Ex:

  
-The Villain I Appear to Be by Connor Spiotto, you can't just associate songs with characters and _not_ associate this one with Ex, come on

  
-Always Gold by Radical Face (except he would be the other person being referred to in the song)

  
-Bang! by AJR (idk why tbh I just feel like this would be an Ex song)

  
-Let the Games Begin by AJR 

  
-Boys Will Be Bugs by Cavetown

  
-This Is Home by Cavetown (also could be a Wels song)

  
-Comfort Crowd by Conan Gray

  
-(Can We Be Friends) by Conan Gray

  
-Demons by Imagine Dragons

-Electric Love by BØRNS

-If You Can't Hang by Sleeping With Sirens

  
-Back from the Edge by James Arthur

Xisuma:

  
-Soliton by Steam Powered Giraffe

  
-Angel with a Shotgun by The Cab

-Late Bloomer by Unlike Pluto

  
-Talk to Me by Cavetown

  
-Why Worry by Set It Off

NPC Grian:

  
-Buttercup by Jack Stauber

  
-There's Something Happening by Jack Stauber

  
Those two are just because they're upbeat and they're two of my happy songs lol

  
-Marble Soda by Shawn Wasabi

  
-Burnt Rice also by Shawn Wasabi, again because they're upbeat as hell

Bonus for Cleo:   
Girls in Bikinis by Poppy. 100%.

* * *


	23. [Info Dump Revamped!]

* * *

Because why not make sure everything's up to date again?

Hopefully the last time I'll be messing with an info dump again

Btw some of the last names might just be a lil play on words relating to their alias and such like Grian MC turns into Grian Emsy lol but I wanted them all to have last names listed

In this updated info dump, you'll get the following for all characters who appear in The Ties that Bind:  
Name (+last name), nicknames, alias (aka what they set their name to on their communicator), pronouns, height (not entirely based on the canon heights of the hermits), age range (approximation of their age, again, not entirely based off canon ages), gender + sexuality, general personality, weapon of choice, magic/abilities, known family (as in what has been revealed in the story and/or any family that's known of by the other hermits(also family won't be included in this because that would be a given)), species, place of origin (aka dimension they're from), closest friends, team/group, who is considered their enemy/enemies, their role in the story (listed as stuff like protag, antag, and/or also how often they appear (minorly, majorly, etc.)), and notable features (physical features that stand out). 

Also! Since the Ao3 version of this story is completely open interpretation for ships, I'm replacing relationship status with ships you could interpret for the characters :)

** Grian Emcy: **

• Nickname(s): G, Gri, G-man

• Alias: Grian

  
• Pronouns: he/him

  
• Height: 5'6

• Age range: Around 25-30

  
• Gender + sexuality: Cis male, panromantic asexual

  
• Ships you could interpret: Grumbo (Grian x Mumbo), Grels (Grian x Wels), Grisuma (Grian x Xisuma), Gleo?? idk the ship name if there is one (Grian x Cleo), whatever the name would be for Grian x Jevin

  
• General personality: Kind, a bit awkward and sometimes shy but working on it, extremely caring, tries his best to help his friends and move on from the awful experience of the past, working on getting over his fear of scientists (or at least Doc)

  
• Weapon of choice: Spectral bow or regular, sword + shield

  
• Magic/Abilities: Low-class healing, natural flight, stunning enemies with glowstone dust, transforming any bow into a spectral bow by will, temporary shield creation, sensing aura, short-distance teleportation, glowing his eyes 

  
• Known family: NPC Grian (younger brother)

  
• Species: Angel

  
• Place of origin: The Aether

  
• Closest friends: Mumbo, Wels, Xisuma, Jevin

  
• Team/Group: Architechs (Grian, Mumbo, Iskall)

  
• 'Enemies': Doc, nHo (unofficially), any scientists (not counting the Convex)

  
• Role: Protagonist/Major

  
• Notable features: Angel wings

**NPC Grian:**

  
• Nickname(s): NPG, NPC Gri, NPC, kiddo (used by Wels)

  
• Alias: NPC Grian

  
• Pronouns: he/him/it/its

  
• Height: 5'4

  
• Age range: Ageless, but he would be somewhere around 20 though mentally/behaviorally younger 

  
• Gender + sexuality: Agender, panromantic asexual

  
• Ships you could interpret: Honestly just NPC Grian x Ex

  
• General personality: Playful, a bit childish, easily excited, very upbeat, caring, kind

  
• Weapon of choice: TNT, shield (he doesn't know how to properly fight)

  
• Magic/Abilities: Low-class healing if he focuses hard enough, glowing his eyes, functioning without sleep (god don't we all wish we could do that), teleportation 

  
• Known family: Grian (older brother)

  
• Species: NPC

  
• Place of origin: The Aether

  
• Closest friends: Mumbo, Wels, Xizara, Stress

  
• Team/Group: Can be counted with the Architechs

  
• 'Enemies': Doc

  
• Role: Tertiaty/Semi-major

  
• Notable features: Faint lines in various places (like the places where metal plates meet on a robot)

**Mumbo Jumbo**

  
• Nickname(s): Mumby (used by Grian and NPC)

  
• Alias: Mumbo Jumbo

  
• Pronouns: he/him

  
• Height: 6'3

• Age range: Around 25-30

• Gender + sexuality: Cis male, homosexual 

  
• Ships you could interpret: Grumbo (Grian x Mumbo), Mumskall (Mumbo x Iskall) kind of

  
• General personality: Awkward, kind of a mess, very kind and caring

  
• Weapon of choice: Sword, bow

  
• Magic/Abilities: N/A, though he is a god at redstone

  
• Known family: N/A

  
• Species: Human

  
• Place of origin: Overworld

  
• Closest friends: NPC Grian, Iskall, Grian

  
• Team/Group: Architechs (Grian, Mumbo, Iskall)

  
• 'Enemies': None really

  
• Role: Tertiary/Moderately to semi-majorly

  
• Notable features: Uh. Mustache.

**Iskall Vektor**

  
• Nickname(s): N/A

  
• Alias: Iskall85

  
• Pronouns: he/him/they/them/she/her (most commonly referred to with he/him but uses any pronouns)

  
• Height: 5'7

  
• Age range: Around 30

  
• Gender + sexuality: Nonbinary, pansexual 

  
• Ships you could interpret: Mumskall (Mumbo x Iskall), Stresskall (Stress x Iskall)

  
• General personality: Upbeat and energetic, as helpful as he can be, very optimistic, cheerful, and silly

  
• Weapon of choice: Bow, sword 

  
• Magic/Abilities: He can use his robotic eye to zoom in on things but that's it

  
• Known family: N/A

  
• Species: Human

  
• Place of origin: Overworld

  
• Closest friends: Grian, Mumbo, Stress

  
• Team/Group: Architechs (Grian, Mumbo, Iskall)

  
• 'Enemies': None really

  
• Role: Tertiary/Moderately 

  
• Notable features: Has a robotic eye

** Xisuma Void **

  
• Nickname(s): X, Suma

  
• Alias: Xisumavoid

  
• Pronouns: he/him

  
• Height: 6'3

  
• Age range: Ageless, though he seems around 35

  
• Gender + sexuality: Cis male, bisexual

  
• Ships you could interpret: Welsuma (Wels x Xisuma, especially since they're married in the Wattpad version lol), Grisuma (Grian x Xisuma), Xisuma x False somewhat, Xisuma x Biffa

  
• General personality: Stern but only when he needs to be, kind and caring, cautious, generally upbeat, a bit derpy sometimes

  
• Weapon of choice: Sword, bow

  
• Magic/Abilities: Admin powers (middle-class healing, teleporting himself or others, etc.), manipulation of the void element by will, immune to permadeath, glowing his eyes

  
• Known family: Xizara (older brother)

  
• Species: Void being

  
• Place of origin: The End, specifically the void

  
• Closest friends: Grian, False, Cub, Scar, Doc (they're still friends, he's just iffy towards Doc), Biffa, Wels

  
• Team/Group: TEA (Xisuma and Biffa), IDEA (Xisuma, Keralis, Bdubs, though this group doesn't show up in the story, maybe in the epilogue somewhere)

  
• 'Enemies': Partially Doc, anyone who tries to harm any of the hermits

  
• Role: Tertiary/Semi-major 

  
• Notable features: X-shaped scar going over his nose, plus multiple others elsewhere, green eyes that fade into purple near the bottom

**Xizara Void**

  
• Nickname(s): Ex, Exy (used by Wels and NPC Grian)

• Alias: Evil Xisuma

  
• Pronouns: he/him

  
• Height: 6'4

  
• Age range: Ageless, though he seems around 35-40

  
• Gender + sexuality: Transmasc, homoromantic asexual

  
•Ships you could interpret: NPC Grian x Ex, Exwels (Wels x Ex), that's kind of it tbh

  
• General personality: Bastard boy, very playful, potentially rude if you tick him off, still very caring and can easily be kind, even being quite energetic and soft (not quite to the level of NPC Grian though)

  
• Weapon of choice: Double daggers, lightning magic 

  
• Magic/Abilities: Manipulation of the void element, summoning lightning regardless of the weather, fire magic, glowing his eyes, increased speed

  
• Known family: Xisuma (younger brother)

  
• Species: Void being, half-demon

  
• Place of origin: The End, specifically the void

  
• Closest friends: Wels, False, Cub, Scar, Stress, NPC Grian, Zedaph, Tango, Impulse

  
• Team/Group: Could be counted with Team ZIT, 'sidekick' to Worm Man

  
• 'Enemies': Anyone who gets in his way or tries to hurt his brother

  
• Role: Tertiary/Moderate

  
• Notable features: Eyes are sort of a combination of ice blue and red (fades into red near the bottom), fangs, numerous scars, the most noticable being one across his nose, left eye, and running up his right cheek

**Wels Knight**

  
• Nickname(s): Welsie (allows everyone but Doc to call them that), kiddo (used by Hels), Elfy (used by NPC Grian), baba (used by Xavi, though they also let her alternate between 'mom' and 'papa'/'dad'), nini/zaza (used by NPC Grian)

  
• Alias: Welsknight

  
• Pronouns: They/them, allows it/its

  
• Height: 5'10

  
• Age range: Around 30

  
• Gender + sexuality: Nonbinary, demiromantic asexual

  
• Ships you could interpret: Welsuma (Wels x Xisuma), Exwels (Ex x Wels), one I have as playful romanticism on Wattpad is Wels x the girls aka Wels x False x Stress x Cleo (False being perfectly fine with being playfully romantic with Wels), just straight up Wels x Cleo, Wels x Jevin, poly UGS aka Wels x Jevin x Biffa, Wels x Biffa, Grels (Grian x Wels, honestly this is a big one you could interpret), Wels x Scar, Wels just b hella loveable lol everyone wants to cuddle them and give them smooches

  
• General personality: Overwhelmingly snarky and sassy, constantly fatigued and tired, can be very kind and caring as long as you don't piss them off, has the heart of a lion but is very broken on the inside (though it doesn't always show)

  
• Weapon of choice: Sword, bow

  
• Magic/Abilities: Elementumkinesis, reality warping, high-class healing, necromancy, reanimation, soul bounding, umbrakenisis, glowing their eyes, altering their physical appearance (though they rarely, if ever, use it), sensing auras

  
• Known family: Hels (older brother), TFC (adoptive father), unnamed mother and father (deceased)

  
• Species: Dark Elf, introduced themself as a Wood Elf

  
• Place of origin: The Twilight Forest

  
• Closest friends: Grian, Xizara, Xisuma, NPC Grian, False, Cleo, Stress, Biffa, Jevin (previously Lapis Lauri, C8sun, Ferks, and Surki from the Twilight Forest)

  
• Team/Group: Team UGS (Wels, Jevin, Biffa)

  
• 'Enemies': Doc, the nHo, literally any High Elf (except Lapis Lauri)

  
• Role: Deuteragonist/Major

  
• Notable features: A few scars on their face (plus one on their left ear and multiple on their arms and other various places), dull blue eyes (almost grey even), streaks of dark purple on the sides of their face when they lose control of themself due to anger (and in that state their umbrakenisis just goes wild and they will kill anything that moves or comes near them) plus purple swirls on their arms, pointy ears

_ Ao3 Exclusive Character:  _

  
** Xavi Knight **

  
• Nickname(s): Kiddo (used by Wels)

  
• Alias: Xavi

  
• Pronouns: she/her/they/them

  
• Height: 5'3

  
• Age range: Around 12

  
• Gender: Demigirl

  
• General personality: Upbeat, cheerful, optimistic, kind, incredibly caring and protective over Wels

  
• Weapon of choice: Fire magic, sword

  
• Magic/Abilities: Elementumkinesis, purple flames, teleportation, umbrakenisis and reanimation that hasn't manifested yet

  
• Known family: Wels (guardian/parent), Hels (uncle), TFC (grandfather)

  
• Species: Dark Elf + Void being hybrid 

  
• Place of origin: Technically the End, seeing as the void played a role in her creation

  
• Closest friends: Jevin, Biffa, Xisuma

  
• Team/Group: N/A, though she could be counted with Team UGS

  
• 'Enemies': Doc, basically anyone who hurts Wels

  
• Role: Tertiary/Minorly to semi-moderately

  
• Notable features: Blue eyes that fade into purple near the bottom, pointy ears

**_No ships cause she's literally a child_ **

**Hels Knight**

  
• Nickname(s): Helsie (sometimes used by Wels)

  
• Alias: Helsknight

  
• Pronouns: he/him

• Height: 6'0

  
• Age range: Around 35 (he's 5 years older than Wels)

  
• Gender + sexuality: Cis male, aromantic asexual

  
_No ships for him_

  
• General personality: Despite looking intimidating he's actually a huge softie but the moment you try to hurt Wels he will break every bone in your body, very energetic, surprisingly upbeat, violent when necessary, extremely protective (especially over Wels)

  
• Weapon of choice: Sword, daggers, fire magic, but he'll also just kick you straight in the face

  
• Magic/Abilities: Elementumkinesis, high-class healing, reality warping, necromancy, reanimation, soul bounding, glowing his eyes, altering his physical appearance (he never uses it), sensing auras

  
• Known family: Wels (younger sibling) TFC (adoptive father), unnamed mother and father (deceased)

  
• Species: Dark Elf

  
• Place of origin: The Twilight Forest

  
• Closest friends: N/A

  
• Team/Group: N/A

  
• 'Enemies': Anyone who tries to harm Wels, any and all High Elves (Lapis Lauri is an exception for him as well), all Wood Elves from his home village (with the exception of Wels' old friends)• Role: Minor, only appears during the epilogue, mentioned a few times before that

  
• Notable features: Fangs, crimson eyes, numerous scars on his face and elsewhere, wears a black crown that sits at an angle on his head, pointy ears

**Tango Tekk**

  
• Nickname(s): N/A

  
• Alias: TangoTek

  
• Pronouns: he/him

  
• Height: 5'8

  
• Age range: Around 25-30

  
• Gender + sexuality: Cis male, bisexual

  
• Ships you could interpret: Poly ZIT (Zedaph x Impulse x Tango)

• General personality: Very energetic and playful, kind of has bastard energy, occasionally derpy, still very kind and caring

  
• Weapon of choice: Fire magic, bow, sword

  
• Magic/Abilities: Fire magic, natural flight, sensing auras

  
• Known family: N/A

  
• Species: Demon

  
• Place of origin: Nether

  
• Closest friends: Wels, Cub, Ex, Zedaph, Impulse

  
• Team/Group: Team ZIT (Zedaph, Impulse, and Tango)

  
• 'Enemies': None really, not entirely enemies with Doc

  
• Role: Tertiary/Moderately 

  
• Notable features: Horns, demon wings, long red tail, fangs, red eyes + faintly red sclera, pointy ears (different than an elf's though, his point back instead of outwards)

**Impulse Esvee**

  
• Nickname(s): Impy (used by Tango)

  
• Alias: ImpulseSV

  
• Pronouns: he/him

  
• Height: 5'9

  
• Age range: Around 30-35

  
• Gender + sexuality: Cis male, pansexual 

  
• Ships you could interpret: Poly ZIT (Zedaph x Impulse x Tango)

  
• General personality: Very upbeat and energetic, kind, caring, playful

  
• Weapon of choice: Sword

  
• Magic/Abilities: N/A

  
• Known family: N/A

  
• Species: Human

  
• Place of origin: Overworld 

  
• Closest friends: Ex, Xisuma

  
• Team/Group: Team ZIT (Zedaph, Impulse, Tango)

  
• 'Enemies': None really

  
• Role: Tertiary/Semi-moderately

  
• Notable features: Yellow irises

**Zedaph Rayz**

• Nickname(s): Zed (mostly used by Tango and Impulse)

  
• Alias: Zedaph, Worm Man

  
• Pronouns: he/him

  
• Height: 5'8

  
• Age range: Around 25-30

  
• Gender + sexuality: Demiboy, homoromantic asexual

  
• Ships you could interpret: Poly ZIT (Zedaph x Impulse x Tango)

  
• General personality: Incredibly silly and derpy, very energetic and playful

  
• Weapon of choice: Sword

  
• Magic/Abilities: Elementumkinesis, though it's not quite as powerful and he pretty much never uses it, middle-class healing (normally would be high-class but he's only half-elf), glowing his eyes, sensing auras

  
• Known family: N/A

  
• Species: Half-elf (Wood Elf in particular), half-human

  
• Place of origin: Unknown if it was actually the Overworld or Twilight Forest

  
• Closest friends: Ex, Wels (he looks up to them a lot actually, kind of like an older sibling)

  
• Team/Group: Team ZIT (Zedaph, Impulse, Tango), paired up with Ex as Worm Man

  
• 'Enemies': None honestly 

  
• Role: Tertiary/Minor

  
• Notable features: Slightly pointy ears

**Jevin (he wasn't given a last name)**

  
• Nickname(s): Jev (mostly used by Wels)

  
• Alias: iJevin

  
• Pronouns: he/him/it/its

  
• Height: 5'7

  
• Age range: Unknown, presumably around 25-30

  
• Gender + sexuality: Demiboy, homoromantic asexual 

  
•Ships you could interpret: Wels x Jevin, Jevin x Biffa, Poly UGS (Wels x Jevin x Biffa), Grian x Jevin

  
• General personality: Bastard energy, playful, cautious, caring, sometimes a bit sassy

  
• Weapon of choice: Bow

  
• Magic/Abilities: natural flight, mild shapeshifting, turning bows spectral by will, temporary shield creation, stunning enemies with glowstone dust

  
• Known family: N/A

  
• Species: half-angel, half-swet (Aether slime)

  
• Place of origin: The Aether, though he was the result of an experiment in a lab

  
• Closest friends: Grian, Wels, Cleo

  
• Team/Group: Team UGS (Wels, Jevin, Biffa)

  
• 'Enemies': Doc, the nHo

  
• Role: Tertiary/Moderately to semi-majorly

  
• Notable features: Structurally like a human but made out of slime, little blobs of slime floating around him, angel wings that twitch often

**Biffa (doesn't have a known last name)**

  
• Nickname(s): Biff, Biffster (both used mainly by Wels)

  
• Alias: Biffa2001

  
• Pronouns: he/him

  
• Height: 6'4

  
• Age range: Around 45

  
• Gender + sexuality: Demiboy, though he'll sometimes use the label of agender, panromantic asexual 

  
• Ships you could interpret: Poly UGS (Wels x Jevin x Biffa), Wels x Biffa, Biffa x Xisuma

  
• General personality: Rather mysterious, stern if he needs to be, kind and caring, upbeat, can either be your angel or your devil

  
• Weapon of choice: Sword

  
• Magic/Abilities: Admin powers

  
• Known family: N/A

  
• Species: Human, though he's mostly got robotic limbs (not counting the helmet on his head)

  
• Place of origin: Overworld

  
• Closest friends: Xisuma, Wels, Jevin

  
• Team/Group: Team UGS (Wels, Jevin, Biffa), TEA (Xisuma and Biffa)

  
• 'Enemies': the nHo, but other than that no one really unless you make yourself his enemy

  
• Role: Minor

  
• Notable features: Pretty much 80-90% robotic

**Cleo Pertra**

  
• Nickname(s): N/A

  
• Alias: ZombieCleo

  
• Pronouns: she/her

  
• Height: 5'9

  
• Age range: Around 30

  
• Gender + sexuality: Cis female, bisexual

  
• Ships you could interpret: Wels x Cleo, Cleo x Stress x False, Wels x the girls aka Wels x Cleo x Stress x False, Cleo x Joe

• General personality: Chaotic, bastard energy, very playful, soft on the inside but has a very hardy nature

  
• Weapon of choice: Sword

  
• Magic/Abilities: Animation (aka bringing non-living things to life, though it's unknown how she got that ability since typically it's High Elf magic), and unlike regular zombies, she doesn't burn in the sun functions like a human

  
• Known family: N/A

  
• Species: Zombie

  
• Place of origin: Overworld 

  
• Closest friends: Wels, Xisuma, Joe, Stress, False

  
• Team/Group: often paired up with Joe or Stress and False

  
• 'Enemies': None unless you make yourself her enemy

  
• Role: Tertiary/Moderately to semi-majorly

  
• Notable features: Has multiple stitch marks here and there, flowers naturally grew in her hair

**False Symmetre**

  
• Nickname(s): Falsie/Falsey (mostly used by Cleo, Xisuma, and Wels)

  
• Alias: Falsesymmetry

  
• Pronouns: she/her

  
• Height: 5'8

  
• Age range: Around 25-30

  
• Gender + sexuality: Cis female, lesbian (though she doesn't mind being playfully romantic with Wels)

  
•Ships you could interpret: Xisuma x False, Cleo x Stress x False, Wels x the girls aka Wels x Cleo x False x Stress

  
• General personality: Can easily be intimidating, strong-willed, stern if she needs to be, protective, caring

  
• Weapon of choice: Sword, bow

  
• Magic/Abilities: N/A

  
• Known family: N/A

  
• Species: Human

  
• Place of origin: Overworld

  
• Closest friends: Wels, Xisuma, Xizara, Cleo, Stress

  
• Team/Group: often paired up with Xisuma or Stress and Cleo

  
• 'Enemies': Similar to Cleo, anyone who will make themself her enemy

  
• Role: Tertiary/Moderately

  
• Notable features: N/A

**Stress Monstell**

  
• Nickname(s): N/A

  
• Alias: Stressmonster101

  
• Pronouns: she/her

  
• Height: 5'6

  
• Age range: Around 25

  
• Gender + sexuality: Nonbinary, biromantic asexual

  
• Ships you could interpret: Stresskall (Stress x Iskal), Cleo x Stress x False, Wels x the girls aka Cleo x False x Stress

  
• General personality: Extremely caring and kind, can be a little chaotic as a treat, very protective, very soft and sweet, 100% mom-friend

  
• Weapon of choice: Bow

  
• Magic/Abilities: Ice magic, though no one entirely knows where it came from

  
• Known family: N/A, though she often acts like a bit of a mom towards Wels

  
• Species: Human

  
• Place of origin: Overworld 

  
• Closest friends: Wels, Xisuma, Grian, Cleo, False

  
• Team/Group: often paired up with False and Cleo

  
• 'Enemies': She tries not to consider anyone an enemy, but she'll be a bit more iffy towards anyone who tries to make themself her enemy at all

  
• Role: Tertiary/Moderately 

  
• Notable features: Her hands seem to be faintly icy

**Joe Hills**

  
• Nickname(s): N/A

  
• Alias: JoeHills

  
• Pronouns: he/him

  
• Height: 5'8

  
• Age range: Around 30

  
• Gender + sexuality: Cis male, pansexual 

  
• Ships you could interpret: Joe x Cleo

  
• General personality: Sometimes cryptic and mysterious but also rather silly, can be quite derpy and joking, he has wisdom deep in his brain but is often more silly

  
• Weapon of choice: Bow

  
• Magic/Abilities: N/A

• Known family: N/A

  
• Species: Human

  
• Place of origin: Overworld 

  
• Closest friends: Cleo, False, Cub, Scar, Stress

  
• Team/Group: often paired up with Cleo

  
• 'Enemies': None really 

  
• Role: Tertiary/Moderately 

  
• Notable features: N/A

**Doc (last name unknown)**

  
• Nickname(s): None, however, Wels often calls him "cuck" but that doesn't count does it

  
• Alias: Docm77

  
• Pronouns: he/him

  
• Height: 6'5

  
• Age range: Unknown, presumably around 40

  
• Gender + sexuality: Cis male, aromantic asexual

_No ships for him_

  
• General personality: Stern, can be cruel and kind of an asshole but not all the time

  
• Weapon of choice: Trident

  
• Magic/Abilities: N/A

  
• Known family: N/A

  
• Species: Half-cyborg, half-creeper

  
• Place of origin: Unknown

  
• Closest friends: Ren, Etho, Beef, Bdubs

  
• Team/Group: The nHo

  
• 'Enemies': Wels, not really enemies with Grian and Jevin he's just an ass

  
• Role: Antagonist/Majorly

  
• Notable features: Has one robotic eye, anything that isn't robotic is creeper-like, his ears resemble droopy bunny ears a bit

**Ren Dogg**

  
• Nickname(s): "Ren-diggity-dog" (gave himself that nickname)

  
• Alias: Rendog

  
• Pronouns: he/him

  
• Height: 5'7

  
• Age range: Around 30-35

  
• Gender + sexuality: Cis male, pansexual 

  
•Honestly idk what ships you could interpret

  
• General personality: Very chill, can be playful, upbeat, humorous 

  
• Weapon of choice: Sword

  
• Magic/Abilities: He can fully transform into a wolf though he almost never does 

  
• Known family: N/A

  
• Species: Werewolf/'Weredog'

  
• Place of origin: Unknown, assumed to be the Overworld 

  
• Closest friends: Doc, False, Scar

  
• Team/Group: sometimes paired up with Doc

  
• 'Enemies': None really

  
• Role: Tertiary/Moderately 

  
• Notable features: has wolf ears on top of his head rather than normal ears, long fluffy tail

**Cub Phan**

  
• Nickname(s): Cubby (used by Tango)

  
• Alias: Cubfan135

  
• Pronouns: he/him

  
• Height: 6'0

  
• Age range: Around 30

  
• Gender + sexuality: Cis male, homosexual 

  
• Ships you could interpret: Cub x Scar

  
• General personality: A bit playful sometimes, can be a bit stern but it's rare, upbeat

  
• Weapon of choice: Bow, vex magic

  
• Magic/Abilities: Vex magic

  
• Known family: N/A

  
• Species: Half-human, half-vex

  
• Place of origin: Assumed to be the Overworld 

  
• Closest friends: Xisuma, Wels, Joe, Scar

  
• Team/Group: Convex (Cub and Scar)

  
• 'Enemies': None, tries to stay neutral 

  
• Role: Tertiary/Moderately 

  
• Notable features: Blue lightning-like streaks in his irises, which glow if using vex magic

**Scar Goodman**

  
• Nickname(s): N/A

  
• Alias: Goodtimeswithscar

• Pronouns: he/him/they/them

  
• Height: 6'0

  
• Age range: Around 30

  
• Gender + sexuality: Cis male, pansexual 

  
• Ships you could interpret: Cub x Scar, Wels x Scar

  
• General personality: Very kind, cheerful, occasionally stern if needed, rather derpy and silly, caring

  
• Weapon of choice: Bow, vex magic

  
• Magic/Abilities: Vex magic

  
• Known family: N/A

  
• Species: Half-human, half-vex

  
• Place of origin: Assumed to be the Overworld 

  
• Closest friends: Wels, Xisuma, Ren, Cub

  
• Team/Group: Convex (Cub and Scar)

  
• 'Enemies': None, tries to stay neutral

  
• Role: Tertiary/Moderately 

  
• Notable features: Numerous scars on his face and elsewhere, blue lightning-like streaks in his irises, which glow if using vex magic

**TFC (real name unknown)**

  
• Nickname(s): Tin, TFC is technically a nickname 

  
• Alias: TinFoilChef

  
• Pronouns: he/him

  
• Height: 5'8

  
• Age range: Around 60-65

• Gender + sexuality: Cis male, aromantic asexual 

_No ships for him_

  
• General personality: Not very known, a bit mysterious, kind, caring, can be quite upbeat

  
• Weapon of choice: Sword

  
• Magic/Abilities: N/A

• Known family: Wels (adoptive child), Hels (adoptive son)

  
• Species: Human

  
• Place of origin: Overworld, though he lived in the Twilight Forest for quite a while

  
• Closest friends: Xisuma, Cleo

  
• Team/Group: N/A

  
• 'Enemies': None 

  
• Role: Minor

  
• Notable features: N/A

~~~~

Small notes:

-Fuck half of the nonbinary representation in media being non-human creatures I wanted nonbinary rep in my story so I am giving it to you in multiple characters

-Iskall being nonbinary and having pronoun soup (that's what I call it when you use any pronouns) is based on the time he said fuck notch and that his mc persona doesn't have a gender

-Xavi obviously didn't have sexuality and relationship status included in her details because she's a child but her romantic orientation would be aro

-Yes a lot of the last names suck so if you have any recommendations I will be more than happy to take them and use those instead lmao the only ones I'm not changing are Void and Knight

-I've mentioned this before but those past friends of Wels' from the Twilight Forest are people from the Hypermine group and yes I'm keeping C8sun spelled as C8sun even if he does appear in the story it's not guaranteed he will but he may I've thought about it

-Wels is a deuterotag aka 'secondary protagonist' you could say but honestly? You _could_ see them as a bit of an antagonist. I will say that it doesn't make the most sense in the world for them to be an antagonist but you still could see them as one, just not like. Majorly.

-TFC is Wels' and Hels' adoptive dad!! This was revealed in the pasts side book/side project and might have also been mentioned in the lore book here previously I don't remember I've done a bad job of keeping the lore book updated lol

-Some characters like Jevin and NPC do use it/its pronouns however this is not to dehumanize them. Remember that it/its are valid pronouns so long as the person is okay with those pronouns, like how I use it/its alongside they/them

-Why is Doc the primary antag? Well, the easy answer is he refuses to let go of a grudge against Wels, plus the fact that he's basically the leader of the nHo which in this story's universe is basically an evil organization of scientists who destroyed the entirety of Grian's community for the sake of their weird experiments. The grudge held against Wels is that Wels declared war on the nHo, raided several of their labs, and even killed Etho, Beef, and Bdubs a few times. He just cannot stand Wels' existence basically and Wels continues to fight against him when _he_ tries to fight against _them_. He likes to see Wels suffering and will pull whatever bullshit from a hat he needs to in order to set them off but he has multiple times not fully gotten it through his head that actions have consequences.

Honestly I don't have a good answer to that question when people ask it.

If you have any other questions I will be happy to answer them in the comments!! :)

* * *


	24. Why is Doc Such an Asshole?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Potential TW: Mentions/discussion of suicide/purposeful death and self harm, along with quite a bit of self deprivation being depicted/talked about

* * *

This is something I've been asked a decent amount of times and I've never had a good answer for you. So I decided I'm gonna go over it for you here—it may not make sense to you what Doc's motives are and why, but here's the thing: antagonists in a story might be the antagonist because they responded to something the completely wrong way.   
  


An example of this would be the thing with Doc's grudge against Wels. They raided several nHo labs with Biffa, practically declared war on them, and killed the other main members of the nHo.   
  


And why did Wels do all that? The scientists of the nHo were performing several cruel experiments on different species and this included the angels they captured from the Aether. The experiments that failed either died upon failure or were killed if it didn't turn out the way they wanted.   
  


Now here's the thing: Doc doesn't control what the scientists do, he tends to never give them specific commands or experiments or anything, and he isn't always aware of what they may do. That being said, he never _told_ any of the scientists to go do what they did in the Aether. However, he did sometimes know what they were doing, and he did at one point gain the knowledge that some of the scientists raided the Aether and were performing experiments on the angels.  
When it comes to Wels raiding the labs, it personally ticked Doc off. It threw a lot of resources out the window, not to mention the fact that they murdered quite a few scientists with Biffa.   
  
  


As for them killing Etho, Beef, and Bdubs, it straight up pissed him off—the way Doc saw it, those three did nothing wrong, so it angered him that Wels had to drag them into it and kill them. Yes, they came back, but he held a grudge against Wels for it.   
  
  


And here we have one of Doc's motives for trying to make Wels' life hellish any opportunity he gets. Dragged on retaliation for the things Wels did regarding the nHo—Wels took every opportunity to screw up the nHo, Doc takes every opportunity to screw with Wels' life.

Is it a good motive? No. But that's what I mean—he responded to it with a sort of blind anger and annoyance and his response was utterly incorrect. He should have responded to it differently, however, he didn't. And there you have it.   
  
  


Now, another reason why Doc is so vindictive towards Wels is because of the effect he believes they have on the others that they don't deny as a strong possibility.   
What I mean by that is the fact that they're incredibly impulsive and self destructive tending to not give a damn about their own life. This strings off from constantly being treated as garbage and being told their life is worthless in the past, plus the loss of people who were overwhelmingly important to them leading to them not wanting to be alive anymore because they've already lost everything they had and thus saw little to no reason to even try.   
  
  


An example of this would be something I mentioned previously regarding Wels and Xisuma; there was a period of time when Wels was trying day in and day out to achieve a permadeath, and while Xisuma wasn't mad at Wels for it or caused to worry too much or be paranoid about anything, it very well could have.  
  
  


Another example is Wels storming off, and after Doc killed Grian, they threw themself off a cliff repeatedly. As they were, the others were trying to find them, and eventually Stress did—at a bad time, though, because she had to see them hitting the ground and dying right in front of her a few times.   
  
  


Wels has the tendency to constantly be self destructive, be it reckless behavior or purposefully killing or harming themself, or getting another to do it. This could very well cause all of the others to be in a nearly constant state of worry in regards to their current state.   
  
  


And as Doc told them once, they weren't even making attempts to stop it. They could very well be constantly worrying everyone else with how impulsive they are, yet they don't stop, or as they say it; they _can't._ They constantly value everyone else's lives, safety, and wellbeing much more than their own, having zero value for theirs and infinite value for everyone else's. They do everything they can to help and protect others, and that could make them somewhat dependent on them, or at the very least it could cause them to have an unavoidably strong connection to them.   
  
  


The problem with that is they do that yet at the same time try so hard to die and never come back—so it would easily destroy everyone if they had to lose Wels. And they fully acknowledge that, wishing the others wouldn't care so much about them, yet they basically only help fuel their connection to them.   
  


So in a way, Doc stood there patronizing Wels, and they didn't even try to deny the strong possibility that everything they did would ultimately be having a negative effect on everyone else, they even agreed that it was awful of them because in reality they weren't properly _trying_ to avoid any of it and still recklessly continued that behavior.   
  
  


When he was done talking to them about that, he asked, "What are you?" Wels answered negatively with self-deprecation, as expected, and Doc said that wasn't what he meant—he meant "What are you to everyone else"  
  


And when they were silent, he told them to start looking at themself the way everyone else looks at them, and when they said they can't, he told them "Then obviously you're not trying hard enough."  
  


So what does this have to do with it? Doc one way or another tries to either get Wels to change or convince the others not to value Wels as much as they do—one would benefit everyone, the other would benefit Wels, and if it benefited Wels, then it would ultimately benefit everyone as well.  
  


He tries to achieve the latter by expressing his hatred for Wels and often trying to show their bad qualities. Not only does Wels not care that he's trying to get the others to hate them basically, they never disagree with what he says about them, often finding it as nothing but true statements. 

  
You could even argue that Doc killing Wels would be working towards their attempt to die and stay dead, if not for the fact that the universe will especially not allow them a permadeath in _that_ way.  
  


So you might question how the hell that's supposed to benefit anyone, but the way both he and Wels see it, his attempts would be benefiting everyone else—so even if he had to be a dick towards the others to try and achieve it, it would ultimately be for their own sake. Besides, sometimes it takes being stern to get it through someone's head.

  
As a reader you may not fully understand it or think it makes sense, but you gotta remember that to Doc, it does, and to Wels too. Hell, it's probably the only thing they can agree on.  
  


Overall, Doc has two main motives for being the way he is towards Wels: the fact that he still holds a grudge against them for things they did to the nHo (and has always responded to that grudge incorrectly), and the ultimate interest of benefitting the others by basically helping them through patronizing them and the others to try and a) continue to get the reality of what they do and the possible effect of it through their head and keep it there, and b) try and make the others understand what he thinks about it and what Wels thinks about it as well, or see things from their perspective.

Believe it or not, Doc does have regards for the wellbeing of the others. However, the way it's handled/the way it comes off as? It makes everyone see him purely as a villain half the time because they don't understand it, and that applies to my readers too—they don't understand it, and that's why I've gotten asked about it as much as I have. 

Other than that? There's not really any reason why Doc acts the way he does towards Wels, other than maybe Wels just pissing him off every now and again. 

As for why he tends to be cruel towards others—generally, your answer was just explained. When it comes to being a dick towards Jevin and Grian, though, it has to do with that grudge again. Wels killed his friends who pretty much did nothing wrong, so he mildly terrorizes _their_ friends who did nothing wrong or had nothing to do with his problems with Wels.

Is that a good reason for it? No. And it doesn't _have_ to be—I never have a "good" answer to the question of why Doc's character is the way he is, and it doesn't _have_ to be a good answer.

An antag's reasoning doesn't have to be "good" or make total sense—villains can be villains because of the fact that they made mistakes and responded to them the wrong way or their mistake _was_ that they responded to something the wrong way.

So you don't have to think Doc's motives justify his behavior or think that they make sense. That's part of why he's the antagonist. 

His reasoning doesn't have to give him a valid reason to be an asshole, and that's not the point of a villain's reasoning half the time—their reasoning isn't entirely meant to "justify" their actions or make their responses to things valid. It's part of what makes them a villain in the first place.

I hope that makes sense :)

And by the way? Doc _does_ get a moment near the end of the story where there's at least an _attempt_ at redemption for him.

Overall, Doc's reasons for being a villain are never gonna be seen as very good reasons to anyone reading the story, especially if they don't hear the in-depth explanation of said reasoning for it.

And overall, Wels is not meant to be some perfect hero or perfect character without flaws. They're not always a good person, nor should you see them as one entirely. Everyone has flaws, everyone makes mistakes, and Wels is no different—theirs can be seen as utterly awful, and that's because they were never meant to be an entirely good person.   
  


Wels is one of if not the most complex character in this story, but in no way are they an entirely good person, and I've mentioned before you could even see them as a bit of an antagonist—not entirely, but some elements of their actions or character could lead them to sort of accidentally be a bit antag-like.

* * *


	25. 'Fun' Fact/Hidden Detail: Doc + Wels

* * *

Wels can actually seek mild comfort in the fact that Doc reminds them of their negative qualities and it's actually acted as reassurance for them for him to talk about it towards them considering Doc is actually the only one who "understands" the things that make them so self deprecating

There would actually be a few moments where Doc would simply talk to Wels and in their conversation he would just go over the shitty qualities of their behavior, like how their recklessness and impulsivity causes the others to worry a lot about them and it negatively impacts them overall 

And Wels just agrees with him. It's like reassurance for them. They've even recieved mild physical comfort from Doc in those moments like a hug when they were crying or leaning against his shoulder when he wrapped an arm around them.

It almost would make Doc seem manipulative, but the truth is it actually helps to reassure Wels or at least make them feel understood in that regard for once. It's an odd thing to think about—they're enemies yet Doc seems to be the only one that really understands them or agrees with them on those things. Yes, it's not a good thing to agree on, but the way Wels sees it? It is. 

Again, it's odd to think about because they're sworn enemies and they're constantly bitter and nasty towards each other, yet those few interactions mentioned/referenced here make it sound like they're not as bitter towards each other, despite the fact that they're basically just mutually talking down Wels in a sort of patronizing way. 

* * *


	26. [You're Blocking the Moon.]

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Potential TW: Implied mention(s)/discussion of self harm and suicide/dying on purpose, self deprecation

* * *

Wels was absentmindedly picking at the grass when a shadow was cast over them.   
Looking up, they saw a familiar creeper standing over them.  
  


"You're blocking the moon," they mumbled, staring blankly at him.  
  


"Too bad," Doc responded.  
  


Wels glanced at the sword in his hand. "If you're just gonna kill me," they shifted to lay down in the grass with their arms extended on the ground. "then go ahead."  
  
  


"That's not what I came out here for."  
  
  


"Do it anyway—not like it's something you don't already enjoy doing."  
  


Doc huffed. "Sit back up, you idiot."  
  


"Why," Wels mumbled.  
  


"Because. Now sit up."  
  


Wels waited a moment before sighing heavily and sitting up, crossing their legs once more. As they did, Doc moved to sit down in front of them, still remaining a few feet away.  
  
  


Doc glanced at their bandaged arms with sarcastic curiosity.  
  


"And what are those from?"  
  


"None of your business," Wels grumbled. "The hell do you want?"  
  


The cyborg creeper smiled. "You feel so bad about the responses of the others and yet you haven't stopped?"  
  


"Shut up."  
  


"Oh, but you know I'm right—and that's why you got my help trying to show that to the others."  
  


Wels huffed, turning their head. "I asked for fuck all from you."  
  
  


"And yet it's the one thing we can agree on," Doc said. "You know I'm right, that's why you've never disagreed."  
  


The elf didn't respond.  
  


"You know that it worries the others, and yet you keep on doing it? You want them to abandon their worry for you and throw away their value for your life and yet you continue giving them a reason to care with the way you care so much about _them._ You make it your life's duty to protect them and care for them, then turn around and harm them by continuing to harm yourself.

"You try to insist that they shouldn't care, but you've already given them plenty of reason to care anyway. Hell, if you wanted to keep yourself distanced and hope they just forget about it all, why build such ties with them, like with Xisuma?"

Wels glared at him. "Better watch your mouth, asshole."

He tilted his head. "What? It's only the truth. You want so badly for people not to care for you and to choose to stay away from you, even urging them to do so. It's only fair to say that Xisuma marrying you was a mistake then, is it not?"

"I _said,"_ they growled, swiftly yet harshly kicking Doc in the stomach. _"Watch your mouth."_  
  


Doc took a few seconds to recover, moving back to his original position with a slight grimace. "You know I'm only telling the truth."

Sighing, Wels' expression went from angry to a bit sorrowful as they lowered their head slightly. "I know," they said quietly, their tone becoming oddly gentle. "But not when you say it like that."  
  


Doc raised an eyebrow at them.  
  


"Yeah, he shouldn't have married me. I know that," they continued, hugging themself. "But it isn't _his_ mistake. It's mine—I let myself get attached to him, and I continued to be awful like this. It's _my_ fault that he married someone that doesn't deserve to get to call themself his spouse, because it's _my_ fault that I'm like this."  
  


They ran their hands through their hair a bit, gripping it tightly as they lowered their head even more. "I don't _like_ being the way I am, but it's my fault. I talk about how much I hate it and yet I'm still sitting here being this way, not even properly trying not to be, and I keep letting it hurt the others too."  
  


And although it didn't seem like something he'd ever do, Doc reached forward and placed his hand gently on their head, his fingers moving side to side a bit in their hair. 

They didn't even mind it either.

"Tell me, Wels," Doc spoke in a somewhat gentle tone. "What are you?"  
  
  


"The embodiment of a fuck up," Wels said quietly, their voice cracking slightly as tears welled in their eyes.   
  


"And what are you to evergone else?"  
  


That time, he got no answer.  
Doc waited a moment before pushing himself up from the ground.   
  


"Start seeing yourself as what everyone else sees you as," he said as he began walking back towards Team STAR's base. "Otherwise you're not going to get anywhere."

"But I _can't,"_ Wels cried quietly.

Pausing, Doc looked back at them. "Then you don't want to change enough, because you're obviously not even trying."

They didn't even try to deny it, simply keeping their head lowered in shame as tears rolled down their cheeks.

"Now then, do you want me to tell them some of the things you said?"

"...yes," they whispered shakily.

Doc held his gaze for a moment before walking back to the door and going inside, leaving the elf there to cry pathetically.

* * *


	27. [No Thank You.]

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Potential TW: Implied mention(s)/discussion of self harm and suicide, self deprecation

* * *

The elf's ears flickered as they heard someone walking up behind them.   
  


"Wels—"  
  


"No thank you," Wels said plainly.

Doc huffed. "I'm not offering."

"Well I don't want or need to speak to you, goodbye," they spat, throwing their legs over the edge of the cliff they sat at and simply hopping off.   
  


Doc crossed his arms, tapping his foot on the ground as he waited.   
  


_[Welsknight fell from a high place.]_   
  


Just a few more seconds.

And then, after a brief moment, a dark cloud of void-like static formed where Wels was sitting previously, and as it dissipated, they were sitting there once more.  
  


Doc gave them a knowing look as they scowled at him.

They turned to the lingering form of darkness over their shoulder. "Did you _have_ to put me back here?"   
  


The small shadowy creature nodded before fading away.   
  


"Universe said talk to me anyway," Doc said mockingly.

"I hate you," Wels grumbled.

"I know."

He sat down in front of them, and they refused to meet his gaze, keeping their eyes on the ground. He didn't really care, though, flipping his sword around in his hand and using the end of the handle to tilt their head to the side a bit.  
  


"I don't know why you like throwing yourself off this ledge so much if you don't even get the benefit of healing upon respawning," he mumbled, watching as blood dripped down the side of their face from an injury on their forehead—unmistakably coming from the impact.   
  


"Because I don't _care,"_ Wels sneered. "You act like you don't know that."  
  


Doc hummed. "No, I do. I just find it foolish and pointless."  
  


"You find my entire existence foolish and pointless." They glanced at him. "Besides, it's not like you give a damn, so what's your point?"  
  
  


Doc tilted his head. "I know a good few others who don't like it."  
  


Wels sighed. "Doing that shit again, huh? Is that all you're ever gonna do when you try to 'properly' talk to me? Just keep reminding me that I'm awful?"  
  


"Maybe. It's not like you disagree."  
  


"Doesn't mean it's not just about as pointless as me throwing myself off a cliff repeatedly if it's not gonna change shit."  
  
  


"It would if you listened."  
  
  


"I _do_ listen," Wels hissed. " _Y_ _ou_ have nothing of value to say and just keep repeating the same shit when, god dammit, I _know._ But we've established that fuck all is gonna happen to change it, have we not?"  
  


"And whose fault is that?"  
  


Wels pushed Doc's sword away. "I'm done with this conversation."  
  


"No, you're not," Doc said simply, grabbed Wels' sleeve as they moved to turn away again.   
  


"Well _you're_ not helping, and neither is this useless talking."  
  
  


"You refuse my help, do you not?"  
  


"Your only fucking _help_ you offer is degrading me in front of everyone else trying to get it through their heads and even pissing me off and making those shitty qualities show, and we've already established that neither work."  
  


Doc huffed. "You refuse to take my suggestions."  
  


"Because your suggestions are unrealistic," Wels protested. "What, I'm just supposed to start seeing myself as some fucking fairy tale hero who does nothing but help and save people instead of seeing myself as the ball of bullshit I am?"  
  


"You don't even make an _attempt_ to see yourself as what they see you as. You don't try at all, clearly that means you don't want it bad enough."  
  


"Because I fucking _don't,_ I'd rather them hate my guts and praise the day I get my stupid permadeath than keep seeing me as anything even remotely good."   
  


"Yet you say you don't like being the way you are, so why make no attempts to change?"  
  


"Because I _CAN'T,_ AND I'VE _TOLD YOU_ THAT," Wels yelled angrily, lowering their head as their fingers knotted in their hair and they broke out into frustrated sobs.  
  


Doc only held his gaze for a moment before scooting forward a bit, offering a hug. Oddly enough, they leaned into his shoulder a bit as his arms wrapped around them.   
  


"If you wanted it badly enough then you _would,"_ Doc pressed on quietly. "Didn't you say something like that? 'The moment you stop believing you can do something is the moment it becomes true'? 

"So what does that tell you?"  
  


"That I—th-at it's _my_ god damn fault that I c-an't."  
  


"Exactly." 

* * *


	28. [It's Shiny.]

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Potential TW: None honestly? I suppose implied feelings of worthlessness and near the end implied misgendering (very briefly)

* * *

"He didn't believe me, you know."   
  


Wels only continued to stare down at the small bracelet in their hands. 

They still didn't know why Doc brought it for them—he just tossed it to them for them to fidget with. They weren't complaining, though.

Doc didn't mind them focusing on the bracelet either, considering they were still listening. "Xisuma figured I was just lying about you saying it or that I was 'manipulating' you."   
  


Wels tilted their head slightly as their expression dropped a bit more, though they still stared at the bracelet. "He wouldn't even believe it if I said it to him."  
  


Doc sighed. "Exactly. He'd be convinced I made you say it or made you think that way."  
  


"And he doesn't want to believe that it's true," Wels mumbled. "No matter how much I say it he wouldn't."  
  


"He's stubborn," Doc said with a nod. "I can't say I'm surprised."  
  


He glanced at their hands after a moment. "You're oddly fond of that bracelet."  
  


"It's shiny," the elf mumbled, moving the beads around the elastic string, colliding gently with a small 'clink'. "I like it."  
  


Doc stood up. "Good." 

He gave Wels' shoulder a quick pat as he walked past them. "I figured you'd like messing with it. Though I expected you to grow to dislike the color purple, Dark Elf."  
  


They stayed sitting on the ground, staring at the shimmery beads, though no longer messing with them. As Doc walked away, they remained silent and still.  
  


"Take control of your own life for once, boy."  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


And after he left, they began to cry.

* * *


	29. Neurodivergency Characters

I'm gonna detail these all in individual chapters because it's easier to read >.>

But I do ask that you try to read all of them, especially if you're curious as to why characters behave a certain way and vice versa

The following characters _will_ be canonically labelled as neurodivergent:  
-Wels (+Hels and Xavi)  
-Stress  
-Zedaph  
-Jevin  
-Xizara/Ex (tbh he's kind of always been canonically neurodivergent I think I've confirmed it before but I might not have actually- I might have mentioned it on Wattpad but not here)

Feel free to headcanon other characters as neurodivergent by the way!

There's pretty much one character who I've confirmed I will NOT be making canonically neurodivergent and that's NPC Grian solely because xeir character would just absolutely be perpetuating the stereotype that people who are autistic or have ADHD have a child mind and it would be hella infantilizing if you ask me.

You can personally headcanon xem as autistic or having ADHD if you yourself are neurodivergent and want a character to relate to. But I'm not making it canon. It just seems disrespectful because of how big that stereotype would be with xeir character.

A few notes!

-I will be listing some symptoms that correlate with the characters having ADHD but note that they might not be every single symptom that the character has and not every symptom will be shown super outright

-I will also be listing autistic characteristics shown in the characters who are autistic, but again, those won't be the ONLY characteristics they have (I mentioned before I'm not calling them "symptoms" because it makes autism sound like an illness) and not all of them will be shown super outright. They may also overlap with other things, but remember that symptoms/characteristics can be similar and still correlate to one thing that's specified

-These characters also aren't only limited to having autism or ADHD, as in their behaviors aren't all built on that. Some may also have anxiety or depression or other conditions that may also have similar symptoms, but those can coexist

-A lot of these are self projected symptoms/characteristics

-I have asked for the input of people who are neurodivergent and basically as long as I do my proper research (I've done plenty in trying to figure out my neurotype) and don't write any characters as perpetuating a bunch of stigmas and stereotypes then it's perfectly fine (basically as long as I write them properly, respectfully, and realistically)

-This is coming from someone who is undiagnosed but almost 100% neurodivergent in some way. There is not a god damn way that I don't at least have ADHD and that's coming from mountains of research that isn't even nearly concluded with input from people who are neurodivergent most professionally diagnosed as such. (Btw. My research is all built on thinking I may have ASD based on a hell of a lot of 'symptoms'. It's that or really bad ADHD. I can't get diagnosed yet.)

-If you are neurodivergent: Feel free to call out anything that seems way too unrealistic or isn't proper. Like I said I'm trying to write these characters properly and if you have input that you can give based on your knowledge of something you have yourself, feel free to give it. Do remember the following though:

-Autism is a spectrum and can be a very diverse one  
-Not everyone experiences ADHD or autism the same, no two people will  
-This is a very different environment in the story than society actually is, it's much more accepting and inviting and therefore the characters won't be treated with nearly as much discrimination as they are in the real world (with some exceptions in backstories such as Wels'.)  
-If you're not neurodivergent you shouldn't be trying to speak for those who are so please don't give any input that you're not really qualified to give (qualified as in it's not your place to give it because you're not neurodivergent and this is about neurodivergency)

I'll keep it rather simple when individually explaining the specific neurodivergency in characters, but this is the general info that will be provided:

-Actual neurotype/what they have (as in ADHD or if they're autistic)

-Listing some of the more prominent symptoms/characteristics and explaining them/how they apply (note that these may not be ALL symptoms/characteristics present in the character)

-How it affects their behavior, personality, or mood/emotions

-How it has affected them backstory-wise

-Stims

-Other wholesome things that relate because for some characters these won't be too peachy

-Hyperfixations 

I think that's it for a general explanation, these won't have any set schedule for being posted as all things in the lore book don't but they will all be posted


	30. Neurodivergency: Wels

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Reiterating notes:  
• The characteristics listed are not the only ones present in the character  
• Remember that the environment of Hermitcraft in the story is very different than society in real life and is much more accepting (specific to Wels: their previous environment was much more cruel and shows treatment more realistic to our actual society)  
• A lot of these are self projected, especially with Wels  
• Autism and ADHD are not experienced the same by any two people so even if you have had personal experiences or seen the experiences of others that don't match up with any described, it does not make the experiences of the character any less valid or their actual neurodivergency itself  
• A lot of symptoms can overlap with other things but please remember characters can have more than one condition and still be valid, some can share symptoms but still correlate to one in particular (sorry I'm trying to not phrase this in a way that makes autism sound like an illness I really hate doing that :/ )  
• Remember that autism is a spectrum: you may see some characteristics described as "little to no/poor/restricted", but some may sit on the other side of that, such as excessive eye contact instead of restricted

Neurotype:

Wels is autistic, and not what you would consider "high functioning".

On Wattpad, I had spectrum diagrams, but I can't post images on here unfortunately

Characteristics:

• Most commonly shown: Anxiety, depression, emotional dysregulation (mostly with aggression), severe sleep issues, sensory issues, hyperfixations (specifically on people), meltdowns/sensory overloads, RSD, stimming, masking (mainly emotions), boundary issues (both with having super strict personal boundaries and not being good with boundaries occasionally)  
• Other characteristics shown: avoiding eye contact, anxiety relating to changes in plans/preferring predictability, noticing small details others may miss, periods of being nonverbal, being more literal/focusing on reality over imagination. Also, it's been shown that autistics have an increased likelihood of being LGBTQ+.

Emotional dysregulation: Wels has an exceptionally difficult time properly regulating their emotions, especially when it comes to anger. They'll lash out very easily and can lose control over their emotions. It can be hard for them to maintain happiness, their mood can change very easily, and their emotions can be all over the place.

Sensory issues: The smallest noises can actually affect them negatively. It could be the sound of someone's voice, a repetitive sound that they can't avoid, excessive loud noises, etc. They can also be uncomfortable with certain textures. You may notice that they wear just about the same clothing every day—this also can tie into preferring a certain routine. They wear clothes that will always be comfortable to them. They also prefer to eat the same thing, and typically they'll stick to eating bread or fruit. They also tend to only drink coffee, black coffee to be specific, as it's a taste they can be used to without it changing.

Eye contact: Wels has trouble maintaining eye contact with people often, you may notice in the story that they'll be described as looking off the side a lot. While they're able to make eye contact with others, they prefer not to and it can even become physically uncomfortable for them.

RSD: Short for rejection sensetive dysphoria. Wels may not seem too bothered by some things, but it can actually hurt them deeply if someone is angry or annoyed with them. They may mask their emotions or responses more often than not. There are a few cases where you can see their responses, but only slightly—one example is when Grian is yelling at them. It may not be super noticable or easy to catch, but they only start crying after he begins to yell at them, aka expressing anger at them. Also, Wels often over-aplogoizes, and this is an emotional response to their RSD being triggered.

Preferring predictability/routines: While they may not seem too bothered by changes in plans, it can actually make them anxious or even upset if a routine is interrupted. They prefer to have a set plan that will be stuck to, and if it's interrupted, it can massively cause them anxiety and worry.

They exhibit something I like to call "comfortable sameness"—they always drink black coffee, wear the same clothes every day, live in the same type of biome, and use the same block palettes all the time because it's comfortable and familiar.

Periods of being nonverbal: Usually due to stress, they can go nonverbal for periods of time. They won't be able to get any words to come out or even form, and they may have to just write or use sign language.

Being more literal: Wels isn't 100% able to have a vivid imagination as they often think literally and focus on what's real. They point people towards what is actually realistic rather than letting people live off of imagination and nearly nothing else. This can also be an example of them "acting out", as that behavior is very different than that of others.

Being LGBTQ+: This isn't really a sign or characteristic, but there are statistics showing that autistics are more likely to identify as LGBTQ+/have an increased likelihood of identifying as LGBTQ+. Wels identifies as nonbinary, as well as demiromantic asexual (and polyamorous).

Effects on behavior:

In general, Wels is able to get by, but there are definitely burdens. Not being able to regulate their emotions can make it difficult to interact with others, they may feel unmotivated to even get out of bed, they'll be unable to even go to sleep, they'll struggle with fatigue and emotional burnout—interacting with others can be exceptionally difficult. They may feel anxious for little to no reason and be unable to ease their stress and anxiety, sometimes they're unable to actually form schedules to follow, etc.

Effects on treatment:

Wels is treated very well in the hermitcraft community (minus Doc's treatment), but that wasn't always the case. It's been established many times that they've faced day to day bullying, harassment, and discrimination due to their species in the Twilight Forest, as Dark Elves are heavily stigmatized and treated _very_ poorly. It never helped that they're autistic, and others would exploit certain characteristics in order to harm them, such as their RSD or inability to regulate their emotions or even forcefully giving them sensory overloads and trying to force them to make eye contact when it was unbelievably uncomfortable for them and even physically painful to do so. They learned from a young age to force masking on themself, especially with stimming and emotional responses.

Stims:

Wels is very verbally stimmy, as well as physically. They enjoy singing and humming as a form of stimming, especially since it's encouraged because their voice is admired by all of the others and they enjoy hearing Wels sing. They may also stim through touch, such as petting Remi (fur = good stimmy texture), hugging people, messing with their hair, the good ol hand flapping and shaking, and a newer stim is running their fingers over Grian's feathers on his wings. They also stim visually, twisting their sword around in the light to watch the light reflecting off of it, especially enjoying things that are shiny and just visually pleasing to look at. Wels sometimes stims by running their hands through their hair or other people's hair—sometimes being afraid they're accidentally overstepping boundaries with the physical contact.

Other wholesome things:

Wels can info dump to just about anyone and happily indulge in their hyperfixations with people like Xavi (of course), Xizara, Xisuma, Jevin, and NPC Grian. They'll hang out with NPC Grian to make flower crowns and talk about flowers, they can sing all they want with Xizara and pretty much anyone, and Xisuma will listen to them talk about pretty much anything, such as how pretty they think certain block combinations are. They're also able to stim freely even if it means hugging people or playing with their hair. They're often freely given permission to do so.

Hyperfixations:  
• Swords, daggers, and armor  
• Flowers  
• Singing, especially sea shanties  
• They have a hyperfixation on Grian, which they worry is problematic or could be (in this version, they mainly hyperfixated on him because he's just a very good source of happiness and comfort for them and they just have an unexplainable interest in him (you can interpret it as romantic if you want because this version is open interpretation!) so they hyperfixate on him for that reason)

* * *


	31. Neurodivergency: Hels

Reiterating notes:  
• The characteristics listed are not the only ones present in the character  
• Remember that the environment of Hermitcraft in the story is very different than society in real life and is much more accepting (specific to Wels and Hels here: their previous environment was much more cruel and shows treatment more realistic to our actual society)  
• A lot of these are self projected  
• Autism and ADHD are not experienced the same by any two people so even if you have had personal experiences or seen the experiences of others that don't match up with any described, it does not make the experiences of the character any less valid or their actual neurodivergency itself  
• A lot of symptoms can overlap with other things but please remember characters can have more than one condition and still be valid, some can share symptoms but still correlate to one in particular  
• Remember that autism is a spectrum: you may see some characteristics described as "little to no/poor/restricted", but some may sit on the other side of that, such as excessive eye contact instead of restricted

Neurotype:

Hels is autistic, which does make some sense considering he and Wels are siblings (autism tends to run in families and their parents or at least one of them were/was autistic). He could be considered more "high functioning" than Wels.

  
However, not only is he autistic, but he also has ADHD.

Autism Characteristics:

• Most prominent (rather than commonly shown seeing as Hels only appears in the epilogue): Taking things very literally/being bad at reading tones/social cues, strict physical boundaries (being upset when people touch him or even almost do, the only exceptions being Wels and TFC) but also being poor with the boundaries of others (he may get close to people when talking to them or hug them impulsively), sensory issues, stimming, RSD, impulsivity, emotional dysregulation  
• Others less prominent/commonly expressed: Excessive eye contact, executive dysfunction, not understanding social rules, masking (not as intense as Wels'). As said previously, there are statistics showing that autistics have an increased likelihood to be LGBTQ+.

Taking things literally: Hels can pick up on sarcasm if it's made to be extra obvious (and he's able to understand that Wels is often being sarcastic) but he tends to take things literally not understanding if/when it's a joke or sarcastic. He can also have trouble being imaginative.

Boundary issues: Hels sits on both sides of the spectrum, being upset if people touch him without permission but being poor with the boundaries of others, mainly when excited. He'll be okay with contact he initiates, but sometimes he gets carried away and may hug someone without warning. The person he does it the most with is Wels, but Wels has their boundaries lowered for him.

Sensory issues: Hels has similar sensory issues to Wels, being especially sensetive to certain textures/other touch-related things.

RSD: Short for rejection sensetive dysphoria. Hels has extreme troubles with feeling "enough" sometimes and is especially sensetive to even the slightest hint of failure or any anger/annoyance directed towards him. One reason why he's so intent on keeping his title of "Champion" given to him by residents of the Nether is because it makes him feel like he's enough and means something. It makes him feel like he can prove he isn't good for nothing.

Being LGBTQ+: Hels identifies as aroace, aka aromantic asexual.

Not understanding social rules: This is also worsened by trauma, but Hels tends to have a hard time understanding that certain social rules exist and might not understand why they do or understand the rules themselves, as it may counteract with things he's used to or simply make no sense in his mind. He may not be able to piece together how any of the information connects to make those rules necessary.

Masking: Sometimes Hels will mask his emotions and stimming, but he doesn't mask nearly as much as Wels does.

Executive dysfunction: This also overlaps with his ADHD. Hels tends to have difficulties with time management, organization, and even dealing with frustration or setbacks.

Excessive eye contact: Wels sits on the side of the spectrum that has difficulty with eye contact, whereas Hels sits on the opposite side. He'll often make eye contact with others or stare at them, even without realizing he is. He especially makes a lot of eye contact with others when talking to them excitedly or when he's intrigued.

Emotional dysregulation: Hels can sometimes have trouble with anger, easily getting mad and not being able to control it. It's especially bad with misunderstandings.

ADHD symptoms:

• Short attention span, poor working memory, time blindness, little sense of danger/impulsivity, being unmotivated to do tasks that aren't interesting, feeling depressed/upset when understimulated  
• Overlapping with autism: Impulsivity, talking a lot, stimming, hyperfixations, RSD, executive dysfunction, sensory issues, emotional dysregulation

Short attention span: While he's capable of focusing on certain tasks or things he's doing, he can often find himself wandering off and getting distracted quite easily. He may have the slightest distraction that makes him lose track of what he was doing for an extended period of time. This also ties into his time blindness, as he won't realize just how much time has passed.

Poor working memory: Hels can often find himself forgetting things that just happened or that he was just thinking about. He can also have trouble recalling long term memories, but he mostly has short term memory problems.

Little sense of danger: Also ties into impulsivity. Hels will do reckless things without realizing they're dangerous, such as taking large leaps off of ledges in the Nether. He often makes his guards and others nervous when jumping from high up, meanwhile when he lands and sees their worry, he gets confused.

Depression when understimulated: If a task is boring to him and he has no stimulation for an extended period of time, it can lead him to feel upset or depressed. Sometimes he can have slight breakdowns due to frustration with feeling understimulated but not being able to solve that problem, which also ties into not being able to deal well with frustrations (part of his executive dysfunction).

Effects on behavior:  
Generally, Hels will seem hyperactive when not understimulated. He may be very reckless and impulsive without understanding the danger, and when interacting with others, he may get carried away with talking or excitement. His emotions may also change quite easily. While generally upbeat and energetic, small inconveniences can majorly affect his mood and turn it right around.

Effects on treatment:

Hels faced similar treatment that Wels did back in the Twilight Forest, only with different exploits. Any nearby 'bullies' who heard him talking would purposefully trigger his RSD by insulting how much he was talking or calling him annoying. Some would even bait him into talking just to beat him down for it. It was much more difficult for others to exploit Hels' weaknesses than it was with Wels.

In hermitcraft, Hels only lives in the Nether. He holds the title of "Champion" given to him by residents of the Nether (mosts were demons or demon hybrids of some sort), and he's basically like their king. He's treated with high respect and has the admiration of many there. He urges for people to still be casual with him, and they listen. He's generally treated very well, and he enjoys seeing the broken stereotype of demons being awful seeing as the demon residents treat him with respect and don't treat him as any lesser due to his species nor due to the fact that he's autistic in comparison to his old home.

Stims:

Hels is also a vocal stimmer, as well as having many movement-related stims. He'll make small noises such as trilling sounds or humming, and he likes to move around to stim, pacing around or flapping his hands, sometimes skipping around while he walks. He also enjoys staring at fire crackling and glowstone pulsing to stim visually. He may stim by hugging people, but he would mainly only do so with Wels. There are also a few crimson gems on Hels' crown that he enjoys looking at, moving it around in the light to see the way they shine.

Other wholesome things:  
• TFC and Wels would sometimes mention any of Hels' interests and such in order to get him to ramble about it so they could hear him talking. They liked being able to get him to rant happily knowing he enjoyed doing so, plus it was consolation that it wasn't annoying.  
• Wels has their boundaries severely lowered for Hels, allowing him to hug them as randomly as he wants to. They even got used to his excessive eye contact, so although they sit on opposite sides of the spectrum with it, Wels has gotten comfortable letting Hels make eye contact for extened periods of time.  
• Endermen in the Nether like to mimic Hels' verbal stimming.  
• If any residents find something that reminds them of Hels, they show him to see how excited he gets.  
• The residents love asking Hels about his hyperfixations/special interests to hear him go on tangents talking about it.

Hyperfixations:  
• Gems/jewels and similar shiny objects  
• The Nether itself  
• Striders  
• His family aka Wels and TFC


End file.
